Ancient fatty molecules, once believed to be traces of some of the first animals to live on Earth, may have been produced by algae instead.
Microbial mats in Shark Bay, Western Australia, similar to those that lived around 200 million years ago.
Yalimay Jimenez Duarte WA-OIGC, Curtin University
The end-Triassic mass extinction was a cataclysm for the world’s prehistoric species, killed off by volcanoes that altered Earth’s seas and skies. But new research shows it didn’t happen when we thought.
The skull of a reedbuck about to be X-rayed at Donald Gordon Hospital in Johannesburg.
Julien Benoit
The assumption that the lateral semicircular canal of the inner ear can be used to reconstruct head posture in extinct species has long remained unchallenged.
Peretti Museum Foundation / Illustration by Stephanie Abramowicz
Joseph Bevitt, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
If albanerpetontids were around today, they’d easily fit in your hand. And although their bones are found all over the world, these unique amphibians eluded experts for a long time.
Tooth fossils from NSW have confirmed sauropods weren’t exclusive to Queensland. They’re also providing a first look at how these colossal dinosaurs fed from Australia’s land.
Two Cimoliopterus pterosaurs, with 5m wing spans.
Mark Witton/University of Reading
Several theories have suggested either humans, climate change or both drove megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia. Our newest work suggests otherwise.
Scientists examining microfossils aim to answer crucial questions to understand past and present climate crises.
Dwayne Cloete
You can gauge a dinosaur’s body mass either by reconstructing it as accurately as possible, or by scaling its leg bones against those of today’s animals. Research shows both methods work well together.