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Paleoartistic reconstruction of the environment in the surrounding of Camp dels Ninots maar lake during the Early Pliocene. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

Half-Ton Cattle Relatives Roamed Europe 4 Million Years Ago

Jun 5, 2026 by News Staff

Near-complete bovine skeletons unearthed the Early Pliocene site of Camp dels Ninots in northeastern Spain reveal that the ancestors of today’s buffalo...

Jian changmaensis (left) attacks the early bird Gansus yumenensis (right) in what is now the Changma Basin of northwestern China approximately 120 million years ago. Image credit: Lewis LaRosa / Jão Canola.

New Microraptorine Dinosaur Discovered in China

Jun 4, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Jian changmaensis is the first non-avian dinosaur found at a paleontological site that has yielded more than 100 specimens of Early Cretaceous birds. Jian...

Praearcturus gigas. Image credit: Franz Anthony.

Giant Scorpions Ruled Ancient Britain during Devonian Period

Jun 4, 2026 by News Staff

Paleontologists have confirmed that Praearcturus gigas, a creature that prowled shallow waters during the Devonian period, 415 million years ago, is the...

Reconstruction of the Early Cambrian seafloor, depicting colonies of Protomelission gatehousei and Dayingomelission hexaclitia living among archaeocyath reefs in shallow seas approximately 520 million years ago. Image credit: Zhifei Zhang.

Complex Colonial Life Was Already Thriving during Cambrian Explosion

Jun 3, 2026 by News Staff

Tiny colonial animals called bryozoans were long thought to have appeared tens of millions of years after the Cambrian explosion. Extraordinary fossils...

Euplotes gigatrox. Image credit: Ben Larson & Samuel Lord.

When Food Runs Short, This Single-Celled Organism Turns into Giant Cannibal to Survive

Jun 3, 2026 by News Staff

Euplotes gigatrox, a new species of ciliate collected from a seawater filtration system on the Caribbean Island of Curaçao, can transform into a cannibalistic...

Reconstruction of the Santa María Amajac paleolake during the Late Pliocene; the paleobiodiveristy of the paleolake included microvertebrates such as the ambystomatid salamander Ambystoma quetzalcoatli, Paleocharacodon guzmanae and Goodea-like fishes, anurans and numerous species of terrestrial and aquatic plants such as Nymphaea sp., Scirpus sp., Typha sp. Image credit: Diana Guzmán-Madrid.

New Species of Fossil Axolotl Unearthed in Mexico

Jun 1, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have identified a new species of the axolotl genus Ambystoma from several fossilized specimens found deep in the rocky outcrops of the...

Hubble captured this image of 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 446 million km (277 million miles) from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / David Jewitt, UCLA / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Detects Methane on Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Jun 1, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the spectral data from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have detected methane...

Lisowski et al. used physical, morphological, functional, and genomic assays to identify the presence of superparamagnetic macrophages in the liver of homing pigeons (Columba livia domestica). Image credit: Spanishguitar101 / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Pigeons May Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field Using Superparamagnetic Immune Cells in Their Livers

Jun 1, 2026 by Natali Anderson

An international research team led by scientists from the University of Bonn, the University Hospital Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior...

Life reconstruction of Kank australis. Image credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén.

New Dinosaur Species from Argentina May Have Specialized in Catching Fish

May 29, 2026 by News Staff

Paleontologists in Argentina have identified a previously unknown species of unenlagiid dinosaur that stalked freshwater wetlands during the Late Cretaceous...

Plumadraco bankoorum is a new bohaiornithid enantiornithine bird with a pair of exceptionally long rectrices. Image credit: Ville Sinkkonen.

Cretaceous Bird from China Had Pair of Tail Feathers Twice as Long as Its Body

May 28, 2026 by News Staff

Named Plumadraco bankoorum, the newly-described species of enantiornithine bird lived in what is now northeastern China during the Cretaceous period, roughly...

Labrujasuchus expectatus navigated the world on two legs with tiny arms and a toothless mouth tipped in a beak. Image credit: Jorge Gonzalez / NHMLAC Dinosaur Institute.

Toothless, Bipedal Crocodile Relative Lived in New Mexico 212 Million Years Ago

May 27, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new species of bipedal shuvosaurid archosaur from New Mexico, shedding light on a group of creatures that roamed North...

The Khufu Pyramid. Image credit: Douwe C. van der Zee / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Great Pyramid of Giza’s Design Naturally Shields It from Earthquakes, Archaeologists Say

May 27, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For more than four and a half millennia, the Khufu Pyramid has stood on the Giza plateau, enduring dozens of earthquakes without serious structural damage....

Life restoration of Quipalong henanesnsis, an ornithomimosaurian dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous, between 72 and 67 million years ago. Image credit: PaleoNeolitic / Sci.News.

Rare Ostrich-Like Dinosaur Fossil Found on Canadian Island

May 25, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Canada say they have recovered a dinosaur tail vertebra from 75- to 80-million-year-old marine rocks on a small island off the coast...

An artist’s impression of the Bc*+ meson. Image credit: Daniel Dominguez / CERN.

CERN Physicists Observe New Exotic Particle

May 25, 2026 by News Staff

Physicists with the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have observed the Bc*+ meson, an excited version of the Bc+ meson —...

Microeledone galapagensis. Image credit: Voight et al., doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.5814.4.5.

New Species of Octopus Discovered in Deep Waters near Galapagos Islands

May 25, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A single female specimen, collected 1,773 m below the surface near Darwin Island, has been described as a new species of deep-sea octopus, and it doesn’t...

Amichaud et al. found that cows not only recognize human faces, but can connect them with familiar voices. Image credit: NeiFo.

Cows Can Recognize Familiar Human Faces, New Study Finds

May 25, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by scientists from the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) suggests cows (Bos taurus taurus) can...

Life reconstruction of Tylosaurus rex in the Cretaceous-era Western Interior Seaway of North America. Image credit: Alderon Games / Path of Titans.

‘T. rex’ Mosasaur Ruled the Seas 80 Million Years Ago

May 21, 2026 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described a gigantic new species of mosasaur — stretching up to 13.2 m (43 feet) long and armed with serrated teeth —...

A reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous paleoenvironment of Alaska. Image credit: James Havens.

Before Dinosaur Extinction, Rodent-Like Mammals were Already Flourishing in Ancient Arctic

May 20, 2026 by News Staff

Paleontologists have described three previously unknown species of multituberculate mammals — named Camurodon borealis, Qayaqgruk peregrinus, and...

Manzi et al. tested house crickets (Acheta domesticus), among the most widely farmed insects on Earth, for what is thought a key behavioral hallmark of pain: flexible, site-directed self-protection. Image credit: Matthew Lindsey / CC BY 2.0.

Insects May Feel Pain, New Study Suggests

May 18, 2026 by Natali Anderson

When an antenna of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) is touched with a heated probe, something curious happens: the insect turns its attention to the...