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Modern humans, Neanderthals, and other recent relatives on our human family tree evolved bigger brains much more rapidly than earlier species, a new study of human brain evolution has found. The study, published in the journal PNAS , overturns long-standing ideas about human brain evolution. The researchers found that brain size increased gradually within each ancient human species rather than through sudden leaps between species.

Yale researchers find paleontological origins of the way modern birds navigate the world when they're not in flight. Wings may be the obvious choice when studying the connection between dinosaurs and birds, but a pair of Yale paleontologists prefers drumsticks. That part of the leg, they say, is where fibular reduction among some dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago helped make it possible for peacocks to strut, penguins to waddle, and turkeys to trot.

Analysis of nitrogen isotopes provides evidence of the earliest known photosymbiosis in corals of the Devonian A research team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz has used nitrogen isotope analysis to demonstrate that 385 million years old corals of the Devonian from the Eifel and Sauerland regions had symbionts.

Study: Sauropod tail clubs from the Kota Formation (Lower to Middle Jurassic) of India and their implications for early sauropod evolution A new University of Michigan study of dinosaur fossils from India has revealed that the sauropod dinosaur Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis wielded a bony tail club. The research was based on the discovery of four ellipsoidal skeletal elements collected from the Kota Formation of the Pranhita-Godavari Valley of southcentral India, offering insights into these extinct giants.

Landmark new research shows Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day adolescents. In a study published today in the Journal of Human Evolution of the timing of puberty in Pleistocene teens, researchers are addressing a knowledge gap about how early humans grew up.

The researchers identified an atomic-level interaction that prevents peptide bonds from being broken down by water. Collagen, a protein found in bones and connective tissue, has been found in dinosaur fossils as old as 195 million years. That far exceeds the normal half-life of the peptide bonds that hold proteins together, which is about 500 years.

Remarkable fossil evidence of an ancient sea cow being preyed upon by not one, but two different predators - a crocodile and a shark - offers fresh insights into the predation tactics and food chain dynamics of millions of years ago.

A team of geoscientists, including members from the Archaeology, Environmental Changes and Geo-Chemistry large research unit of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has investigated traces of the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The team examined samples from the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary layer, which marks the extinction of 70% of all species that existed at the time, including the dinosaurs.

Writing in The Conversation, Research Fellow Dr Sandra Álvarez-Carretero (UCL Biosciences) explains how her research offers new insights into the origin of life on Earth. Understanding how life began and evolved on Earth is a question that has fascinated humans for a long time, and modern scientists have  made great advances  when it comes to finding some answers.

University of Bonn researchers are studying the lifespan and growth patterns of early mammals What distinguishes the growth and development patterns of early mammals of the Jurassic period? This is the question jointly investigated by researchers of Queen Mary University of London and the University of Bonn.

Study: Cenozoic seeds of Vitaceae reveal a deep history of extinction and dispersal in the Neotropics The ancestor of Vitoid grapes that gave rise to commercial grapes likely originated in the New World, in the tropical belt of the Americas and the Caribbean, 60 million years ago, according to a study co-authored by a University of Michigan researcher.

UV teams discovers dietary similarities between the megalodon and the great white shark A study led by a UV research group shows that the extinct megalodon and the white shark may have competed for trophic resources. The scientific team found similarities in the diet of both predators by analysing dental microwear.

The region with the greatest marine biodiversity on our planet is known as the Coral Triangle or Indo-Australian Archipelago. However, the detailed evolutionary history of this biodiversity hotspot is poorly understood. An international research team has reconstructed how biodiversity has developed over the past 40 million years.

Fossils in Brazil indicate a more complex evolutionary history for ray-finned fish brains than previously anticipated, according to new research. Rodrigo Tinoco Figueroa , a Brazilian doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, and colleagues not only found well-preserved brains in late Paleozoic ray-finned fishes, they also discovered other soft tissues-such as fragments of the heart and eyes, meninges and gill filaments-a rarity in paleontology due to the scarcity of the fossil record.

An international team of researchers has discovered a previously unknown ape species in the Hammerschmiede clay pit in southern Germany. Buronius manfredschmidi was found close to the great ape Danuvius guggenmosi , known as "Udo". This was about 12 million years ago the first ape with adaptations for walking upright and made the Hammerschmiede excavation site famous.

The discovery, published in Nature, opens a new window on early animal evolution. At first glance, the simple, spikey sea sponge is no creature of mystery. No brain. No gut. No problem dating them back 700 million years. Yet convincing sponge fossils only go back about 540 million years, leaving a 160-million-year gap in the fossil record.

The patchy fossil record makes it difficult for paleontologists to draw an accurate picture of the extent of past biodiversity and to understand how it has changed over time. A study led by Rebecca Cooper and Daniele Silvestro from the University of Fribourg shows how artificial intelligence (AI) can make this task easier .

In a warmer climate, summers warm much faster than winters in northwestern Europe. That is the conclusion of research into fossil shells by an international team of earth scientists. With this knowledge we can better map the consequences of current global warming in the North Sea area. The researchers measured the chemical composition of fossil shells.

The ability to regulate body temperature, a trait all mammals and birds have today, may have evolved among some dinosaurs early in the Jurassic period about 180 million years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL and University of Vigo researchers. In the early 20 century, dinosaurs were considered slow-moving, "cold-blooded" animals like modern-day reptiles, relying on heat from the sun to regulate their temperature.

From today's perspective, they look like a cross between a horse and a gorilla: clawed animals (Chalicotheriidae) had a massive body and a horse-like head; their arms were much longer than their legs and equipped with claws. They belonged to the group of odd-toed ungulates and are thus related to modern rhinoceroses, horses and tapirs.