Fossils & Ruins News
May 22, 2025
Top Headlines
May 22, 2025 — A new study proves that a type of genetic element called 'introners' are the mechanism by which many introns spread within and between species, also providing evidence of eight instances in which ...
May 15, 2025 — An international genomics study has revealed that early Asians undertook humanity's longest known prehistoric migration. These early humans, who roamed the earth over 100,000 years ago, are believed ...
May 14, 2025 — The origin of reptiles on Earth has been shown to be up to 40 million years earlier than previously thought -- thanks to evidence discovered at an Australian fossil site that represents a critical ...
May 14, 2025 — Archaeopteryx is the fossil that clearly demonstrated Darwin's views. It's the oldest known fossil bird, and it helps show that all birds -- including the ones alive today -- emerged from dinosaurs. ...
Latest Headlines
updated 10:57pm EDT
May 21, 2025 — New research shows that dentine, the inner layer of teeth that transmits sensory information to nerves inside the pulp, first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient ...
May 22, 2025 — Researchers have analyzed ancient DNA from Borrelia recurrentis, a type of bacteria that causes relapsing fever, pinpointing when it evolved to spread through lice rather than ticks, and how it ...
May 22, 2025 — Scientists have analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how and why extinct sloths got ...
May 22, 2025 — Earth's largest gold reserves are not kept inside Fort Knox, the United States Bullion Depository. In fact, they are hidden much deeper in the ground than one would expect. More than 99.999% of ...
May 22, 2025 — New research examining 11,700 years of bowhead whale persistence throughout the Arctic projects that sea ice loss due to climate change will cause their habitat to severely contract by up to 75 per ...
May 21, 2025 — Analysis has shown a boulder weighing almost 1,200 tons in Tonga is one of the largest known wave-transported rocks in the world, providing new insights into the Pacific region's history and risk of ...
May 20, 2025 — Plants that reproduce exclusively by self-pollination arise from populations with extremely low diversity to begin with. The research not only adds a facet to possible evolutionary strategies, but ...
May 20, 2025 — African elephants are the largest land animals on earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian ...
May 20, 2025 — Using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography with detailed 3D imaging and in-situ mechanical testing, researchers are peering inside shark skeletons at the nanoscale, revealing a microscopic ...
May 20, 2025 — To better understand the circadian clock in modern-day cyanobacteria, a research team has studied ancient timekeeping systems. They examined the ...
Earlier Headlines
May 19, 2025 — New research reveals mountain glaciers across the globe will not recover for centuries -- even if human intervention cools the planet back to the 1.5 C limit, having exceeded ...
May 16, 2025 — New research from an international group looking at ancient sediment cores in the North Atlantic has for the first time shown a strong correlation between sediment changes and a marked period of ...
May 16, 2025 — Scientists have decoded the atomic structure of Photosystem I from a 3-billion-year-old cyanobacteria lineage, offering a unique look at early oxygen-producing photosynthesis. The ancient nanodevice, ...
May 16, 2025 — In the natural world -- where predators pounce, prey flee, and group members feed and sleep in solidarity -- animal behavior is glorious in its variety. Now, new research suggests there may be an ...
May 15, 2025 — A new study shows that seagrass ecosystems along the northern half of Florida's Gulf Coast have remained relatively healthy and undisturbed for the last several thousand ...
May 15, 2025 — A dinosaur's 40-second journey more than 120 million years ago has been brought back to life by a research team using advanced digital modelling ...
May 14, 2025 — Using advanced technology that analyzes tiny gas bubbles trapped in crystal, a team of scientists has precisely mapped how magma storage evolves as Hawaiian volcanoes ...
May 14, 2025 — Scientists have found new evidence for how our fossil human relatives in South Africa may have used their hands. Researchers investigated variation in finger bone morphology to determine that South ...
May 14, 2025 — Before Homo sapiens arrived, Europe's forests were not dense and dark but shaped by open and light-rich woodland landscapes. Researchers have analyzed 917 native forest plant species in Central ...
May 14, 2025 — Scientists have now discovered the oldest ancestor for all the Australian tree frogs, with distant links to the tree frogs of South ...
May 13, 2025 — Scientists confirm CT scanning doesn't interfere with natural decomposition processes, opening new windows into understanding how fossils ...
May 13, 2025 — Palaeontologists have discovered a remarkable new 506-million-year-old predator from the Burgess Shale of Canada. Mosura fentoni was about the size of your index finger and had three eyes, spiny ...
May 12, 2025 — Originally from South America, the charismatic tegu made its way to the United States via the pet trade of the 1990s. But a recent discovery shows these reptiles are no strangers to the region -- ...
May 12, 2025 — Researchers analyzed 788 obsidian artifacts from Tenochtitlan, revealing that the Mexica (Aztec) Empire sourced this important material from at least eight different locations, including regions ...
May 9, 2025 — Scientists have discovered fossil evidence of an endangered, living tropical tree species. The unprecedented find was made in Brunei, a country on the large island of Borneo, and reveals a critical ...
May 9, 2025 — Modern HIV medicine is based on a common genetic mutation. Now, researchers have traced where and when the mutation arose -- and how it protected our ancestors from ancient ...
May 9, 2025 — The Arctic landscape during the Cretaceous Period may have been dominated by the dinosaurs, but the rivers and streams held something more familiar. Alaska's fresh waters 73 million years ago ...
May 7, 2025 — Newly discovered species of extinct fish shows striking similarities to unrelated modern-day predators, suggesting certain traits have emerged multiple times and remained consistent over hundreds of ...
May 7, 2025 — Life depends on genes being switched on and off at exactly the right time. Even the simplest living organisms do this, but usually over short distances across the DNA sequence, with the on/off switch ...
May 6, 2025 — Tyrannosaurus rex evolved in North America, but its direct ancestor came from Asia, crossing a land bridge connecting the continents more than 70 million years ago, according to a new ...
Monday, May 19, 2025
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Ancient Ocean Sediments Link Changes in Currents to Cooling of Northern Hemisphere 3.6 Million Years Ago
- Light-to-Electricity Nanodevice Reveals How Earth's Oldest Surviving Cyanobacteria Worked
- Very Different Mammals Follow the Same Rules of Behavior
Thursday, May 15, 2025
- Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!
- Digital Reconstruction Reveals 80 Steps of Prehistoric Life
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Tiny Gas Bubbles Reveal Secrets of Hawaiian Volcanoes
- Dexterity and Climbing Ability: How Ancient Human Relatives Used Their Hands
- Europe's Forest Plants Thrive Best in Light-Rich, Semi-Open Woodlands -- Kept Open by Large Herbivores
- Australia's Oldest Prehistoric Tree Frog Hops 22 Million Years Back in Time
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- CT Scanning Helps Reveal Path from Rotten Fish to Fossil
- Palaeontologists Discover 506-Million-Year-Old Predator
Monday, May 12, 2025
- From Prehistoric Resident to Runaway Pet: First Tegu Fossil Found in the U.S.
- Vast Aztec Trade Networks Behind Ancient Obsidian Artifacts
Friday, May 9, 2025
- First Fossil Evidence of Endangered Tropical Tree Discovered
- Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV
- New Ancient Fish Species Earliest Known Salmon Ancestor
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
- Triassic Fossil Reveals Nature's Best Jaw for Hunting Fast Fish
- Comb Jellies Reveal Ancient Origins of Animal Genome Regulation
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
- T. Rex's Direct Ancestor Crossed from Asia to North America
- New Drone-Assisted 3D Model Offers a More Accurate Way to Date Dinosaur Fossils
- Slickrock: Geologists Explore Why Utah's Wasatch Fault Is Vulnerable to Earthquakes
Monday, May 5, 2025
- Western US Spring Runoff Is Older Than You Think
- Ancient Andes Society Used Hallucinogens to Strengthen Social Order
- A Fully Automated Tool for Species Tree Inference
- Genomic Survey Uncovers Evolutionary Origins of Secretoglobins
Friday, May 2, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Why Did Some Ancient Animals Fossilize While Others Vanished?
- Ptero Firma: Footprints Pinpoint When Ancient Flying Reptiles Conquered the Ground
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- Geobiology: Iron, Sulfur, Heat -- And First Life
- Landmark Experiment Sheds New Light on the Origins of Consciousness
- One of Earth's Ancient Volcanic Mysteries Solved
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
- Elephant Instead of Wild Boar? What Could Have Been in Europe
- Anatomy of a 'zombie' Volcano: Investigating the Cause of Unrest Inside Uturuncu
- 'Extremely Rare Event': Bone Analysis Suggests Ancient Echidnas Lived in Water
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
- Skeletal Evidence of Roman Gladiator Bitten by Lion in Combat
- What Rattlesnake Venom Can Teach Us About Evolution: New USF Study
- Melting Glaciers at the End of the Ice Age May Have Sped Up Continental Drift, Fueled Volcanic Eruptions
- Phoenician Culture Spread Mainly Through Cultural Exchange
Monday, April 21, 2025
Friday, April 18, 2025
- Unlocking the Genetic Basis of Adaptive Evolution: Study Reveals Complex Chromosomal Rearrangements in a Stick Insect
- Environmental Variability Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation Among Humans: A Simulation-Based Analysis
Monday, April 21, 2025
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
- Sunscreen, Clothes and Caves May Have Helped Homo Sapiens Survive 41,000 Years Ago
- Secret to Crocodylian Longevity
- Inside Yellowstone's Fiery Heart: Researchers Map Volatile-Rich Cap, Offering Clues to Future Volcanic Activity
Monday, April 14, 2025
- Physics Reveals the Optimal Roof Ratios for Energy Efficiency
- Archaeologists Compared the Size of 50,000 Ancient Houses to Learn About History of Inequality, They Found That It's Not Inevitable
- Wealth Inequality's Deep Roots in Human Prehistory
- Pioneering Research Reveals Arctic Matter Pathways Poised for Major Shifts Amidst Climate Change
- Scientists May Have Solved a Puzzling Space Rock Mystery
- Sophisticated Pyrotechnology in the Ice Age: This Is How Humans Made Fire Tens of Thousands of Years Ago
- Footprints of Tail-Clubbed Armored Dinosaurs Found for the First Time
- Deep-Sea Mining Risks Leads Study to Urge Shift to Circular Solutions
Friday, April 11, 2025
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
- Ancient Tools from a South African Cave Reveal Connections Between Prehistoric People
- Sink or Swim: The Fate of Sinking Tectonic Plates Depends on Their Ancient Tectonic Histories
- Prehistoric Rhinos Lived in Super-Herds
- Mediterranean Hunter Gatherers Navigated Long-Distance Sea Journeys Well Before the First Farmers
- Mammoth Genetic Diversity Throughout the Last Million Years
- 8 Million Years of 'Green Arabia'
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
- Ancient Fossil Sheds Big Light on Evolution Mystery: Solving a 100-Year Arthropod Mystery
- Life Recovered Rapidly at Site of Dino-Killing Asteroid: A Hydrothermal System May Have Helped
- In Guatemala, Painted Altar Found at Tikal Adds New Context to Mysterious Maya History
- Dinosaurs' Apparent Decline Prior to Asteroid May Be Due to Poor Fossil Record
Monday, April 7, 2025
Thursday, April 3, 2025
- Climate Change and Prehistoric Human Populations: Eastward Shift of Settlement Areas at the End of the Last Ice Age
- Animal Behavioral Diversity at Risk in the Face of Declining Biodiversity
- Machine Learning Helps Construct an Evolutionary Timeline of Bacteria
- Bees Actively Adjust Flower Choice Based on Color and Distance: Updating 'flower Constancy' Beyond Darwin's Theory
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
- New Computer Model Reveals How Bronze Age Scandinavians Could Have Crossed the Sea
- Ancient Amphibians as Big as Alligators Died in Mass Mortality Event in Triassic Wyoming
- Footprints Reveal Prehistoric Scottish Lagoons Were Stomping Grounds for Giant Jurassic Dinosaurs
- Seeing Humanity's Transition from Hunting to Farming as a Cultural Shift
- First Ancient Genomes from the Green Sahara Deciphered
- Early Earth's First Crust Composition Discovery Rewrites Geological Timeline
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Monday, March 31, 2025
- Discovery of Quina Technology Challenges View of Ancient Human Development in East Asia
- 'She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not': Physical Forces Encouraged Evolution of Multicellular Life, Scientists Propose
Thursday, March 27, 2025
- A Genetic Tree as a Movie: Moving Beyond the Still Portrait of Ancestry
- Melting Ice, More Rain Drive Southern Ocean Cooling
- How Calcium May Have Unlocked the Origins of Life's Molecular Asymmetry
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
- Scientists Uncover Key Mechanism in Evolution: Whole-Genome Duplication Drives Long-Term Adaptation
- New Species Revealed After 25 Years of Study on 'inside Out' Fossil -- And Named After Discoverer's Mum
- Earliest Days of Earth's Formation
- How Did the Large Brain Evolve?
- Cuneiforms: New Digital Tool for Translating Ancient Texts
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Monday, March 24, 2025
- 5,700-Year Storm Archive Shows Rise in Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the Caribbean
- Organic Molecules of Unprecedented Size Discovered on Mars
- Biologists Discover Ancient Neurohormone That Controls Appetite
Friday, March 21, 2025
Thursday, March 20, 2025
- From Dinosaurs to Birds: The Origins of Feather Formation
- Researchers Propose New Hypothesis for the Origin of Stone Tools