Evolution
Explainer
Palaeontology
No more ‘Homo stupidus’: Why Neanderthals are getting a makeover
They were shrewd, complex and creative, and we shared the planet with them (and other types of humans) for thousands of years. So why did the Neanderthals die out and not us?
- by Angus Holland
Latest
Asteroid that killed dinosaurs was a ‘big bang’ for bird evolution
Australian scientists have helped redraw the “tree of life” for almost every bird on earth, with a study finding their ancestors emerged after the dinosaurs disappeared.
- by Angus Dalton
Are you a morning person? You may be a Neanderthal descendant
Using artificial intelligence to analyse genetic variants, researchers have found some humans could have obtained their circadian rhythm from their ancestors.
- by Adela Suliman
‘T-Rex of the sea’ had a two-metre-long skull
The 150-million-year-old fossil was found in Dorset, England. Sir David Attenborough said it was “one of the greatest predators the world has ever seen”.
- by Alex Barton
Apocalyptic dust plume killed off the dinosaurs in spring, says study
Scientists have known for some time that a giant asteroid smashed into Earth causing mass extinctions. But precisely how it happened was until now not understood.
- by Carolyn Y. Johnson
Life on Mars? This tiny South American mouse might hold the answer
Mummified mice found on mountain summits on the Chile-Argentina border have re-defined what we know about the limits of mammals – and they may help the search for life on other planets.
- by Angus Dalton
Pollen count helps prove humans left footprints in the Americas much earlier than believed
The footprints were discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in White Sands National Park and date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago.
- by Christina Larson
8.7-million-year-old skull suggests we didn’t evolve in Africa after all
An intriguing find is challenging the long-standing assumption that humans evolved in Africa and instead suggests that human origins may actually lie in Europe.
- by Sarah Knapton
Exclusive
Palaeontology
Scientists finally identify chicken farmer’s 240 million-year-old fossil
Nearly 30 years ago a retired farmer found a salamander-like prehistoric amphibian in a sandstone block. It hasn’t been formally identified – until now.
- by Angus Dalton
It’s not a stretch: This dinosaur had a 15-metre-long neck
That’s longer than the average bus, and enough to give other sauropods neck envy.
- by Jack Tamisiea