Paleobiology
Fossil teeth reveal that T. rex was warm-blooded
Tyrannosaurus rex was capable of maintaining a body temperature higher than its surroundings, and was therefore warm-blooded. A team of British and American palaeontologists believe they have established this through a thorough analysis of fossilised T. rex teeth.
Mammal ancestors evolved live birth far earlier than thought
Around 236 million years ago, early mammal ancestors were already giving birth to live young – some 90 million years earlier than previously thought.
Tiny mammals blocked the path to miniature dinosaurs
Dinosaurs kept early mammals small, but the reverse also appears to be true: those small mammals in turn prevented non-avian dinosaurs from ever becoming...
The last Neanderthals were not brought down by inbreeding
New genetic analyses reveal that the last Neanderthals were better connected to one another than previously thought.
Plague was already deadly among hunter-gatherers
As long as 5,500 years ago, hunter-gatherers living near Lake Baikal in Siberia were afflicted by plague.
Million-year-old fossil trails shed light on the evolution of vision
Fossilised trails left by the earliest moving animals on the seafloor show evidence for the emergence of visual perception.
Ancient mites migrated in silk-linked processions
Larval mites were already migrating in orderly processions 100 million years ago, as shown by amber from Myanmar.
Dinosaurs traded forelimbs for a more powerful head
The tiny forelimbs of *Tyrannosaurus rex* have been the butt of jokes for decades. But according to new analyses, they were part of a broader evolutionary pattern in large predatory dinosaurs.
Giant octopus ruled the Cretaceous seas as a top predator
Sharks and large marine reptiles such as the mosasaur were not the only top predators of the Cretaceous oceans. Giant octopuses also roamed the...
289-million-year-old ‘reptile mummy’ revealed as oldest known chest breather
Palaeontologists have discovered a fossil of a shared ancestor of reptiles, birds and mammals from the early Permian that still contains soft tissue remains....