Paleontology

The 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy rose to fame through an incredible combination of circumstances

A gigantic space rock that slammed into Earth more than three billion years ago grievously wounded the biosphere—and then helped it heal

Fossil and gene discoveries paint an ever-more-intertwined history of humans combining with vanished species like Neandertals

Scientists re-create the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a shark

New fossils and analytical tools provide unprecedented insights into dinosaur sensory perception

Around 252 million years ago tardigrades may have escaped extinction using this one weird trick

Reptile teeth have long been considered simple and cheap because the animals replace them regularly. That isn’t so, Komodo dragons show

Scientists reveal the face of Australia’s massive, extinct “giga-goose”

Fossilized vertebrae that were found in an Indian coal mine belonged to a gigantic and previously unknown snake species

A Dune-loving worm paleontologist makes the case that worms have been just as important on Earth as they are in the blockbuster film

This newfound crab species' body size is also larger than any other fossil crab—but its modern day descendent is even bigger

The ancient reptile Dinocephalosaurus had a neck of mythic proportions