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Contrary to current understanding, the brains of human newborns aren't significantly less developed compared to other primate species, but appear so because so much brain development happens after birth, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

Angiosperm flowers reached their greatest morphological diversity early in their evolutionary history An international team of researchers around botanists at the University of Vienna, Austria, has now analyzed the morphological diversity of fossilized flowers and compared it with the diversity of living species.

McGill researchers challenge current understanding of dinosaur extinction by unearthing link between volcanic eruptions and climate change What wiped out the dinosaurs? A meteorite plummeting to Earth is only part of the story, a new study suggests. Climate change triggered by massive volcanic eruptions may have ultimately set the stage for the dinosaur extinction, challenging the traditional narrative that a meteorite alone delivered the final blow to the ancient giants.

A new analysis of the bones and muscles in ancient fish gives new clues about how the shoulder evolved in animals - including us. The shoulder girdle - the configuration of bones and muscles that in humans support the movement of the arms - is a classic example of an evolutionary 'novelty'. This is where a new anatomical feature appears without any obvious precursors; where there is no smoking gun of which feature clearly led to another.

Fine dust from pulverised rock released by the impact of the Chicxulub meteorite 66 million years ago played a major role in climate cooling, disruption of photosynthesis and the mass extinction of dinosaurs, VUB researchers have found. Until now, the exact circumstances surrounding the mass extinction of the dinosaurs - such as the effect on the global climate of the material ejected by the meteorite's impact - have been unclear.

Fine dust from pulverized rock released by the Chicxulub meteorite impact 66 million years ago played a dominant role in the cooling of the climate, the disruption of photosynthesis and the mass extinction in which most dinosaurs went extinct. Until now, the precise circumstances of the mass extinction, such as the effect of the different types of impact material ejected from the crater on global climate were unclear .

Research at the Ethiopian site of Garba IV, in the archaeological area of Melka Kunture, in which the Universidad Complutense de Madrid participates, constitutes one of the oldest fossils attributed to this species and is the one with the most diagnostic evidence . The bone remains, described in Science, appear together with lithic tools elaborated with Olduvayense technology, characterized by small-sized lithic tools, the first technology developed by mankind, which allows corroborating for the first time that Homo erectus used this technology .

Today, there exist only three elephant species, in Africa and Asia. Yet the diversity of proboscidean species and their distribution was significantly greater in the Earth's past. Researchers from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, working at the Hammerschmiede site in southern Germany, have now described new fossils of early proboscidean species.

X-rays of an ancient jawless fish shows earliest-known example of internal cartilage skull, unlike that of any other known vertebrate. A 455-million-year-old fossil fish provides a new perspective on how vertebrates evolved to protect their brains, a study has found. In a paper published in Nature today (Wednesday 20 September), researchers from the University of Birmingham, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, Netherlands; and the Natural History Museum have pieced together the skull of Eriptychius americanus.

Vectidromeus insularis was a herbivorous dinosaur belonging to the hypsilophodont family, and is only the second species in this family to be discovered. Published on Thursday 14 September 2023 Last updated on Thursday 14 September 2023 Scientists have discovered a new species of small plant-eating dinosaur on the Isle of Wight in southern England (UK).

Research team led by Göttingen University describe early occurrence of irregular sea urchins in the depths of the oceans Right at the bottom of the deep sea, the first very simple forms of life on earth probably emerged a long time ago. Today, the deep sea is known for its bizarre fauna. Intensive research is being conducted into how the number of species living on the sea floor have changed in the meantime.

Paleoclimate evidence shows that around 1.1 million years ago, the southern European climate cooled significantly and likely caused an extinction of early humans on the continent, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Published in the journal Science , the team of researchers discovered the occurrence of previously unknown extreme glacial conditions around 1.1 million years ago.

According to Cope's rule, today's animal species are on average larger than older species of the same genus. A large-scale study led by a researcher at the University of Fribourg has just demonstrated that this is not the case in turtles . Paleontologists have noticed that, in the course of their evolution, certain species tend to get bigger and bigger.

With a shell length of about 100 millimeters, the land-dwelling areolate flat-shelled turtle (Homopus areolatus) is one of today's smallest turtle species. The record at the other end of the scale is held by the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), which is common in tropical and subtropical seas and can reach up to two meters in length.

Human history in one click: For the first time, numerous sites relating to the early history of mankind from 3 million to 20,000 years ago can be accessed in a large-scale database. Scientists from the research center ROCEEH ("The Role of Culture in Early Expansions of Humans") have compiled information on 2,400 prehistoric sites and 24,000 assemblages from more than 100 ancient cultures.

Fossils of coelacanth discovered in Ticino reveal the existence of an unexpected diversification after the greatest mass extinction in the history of life. The study of a new species of coelacanth from the Middle Triassic period, with a strange morphology for these fish known as "living fossil", show the formation of several species in a short time, after a mass extinction that occurred 252 million years ago, with more than 80% of marine species disappearing.

University of Tübingen paleontologists Dr. Márton Rabi and Gustavo Darlim, working with Chulalongkorn University and Department of Mineral Resources of Thailand, have demonstrated that an almost completely fossilized alligator skull found in Thailand belongs to a previously unknown species. The fossil was discovered in 2005 and is at most 230,000 years old.

An international scientific team, notably from the Institut de Systématique Évolution et Biodiversité ( ISYEB ), has just identified the smallest species of singing cricket ever described, whether fossil or present-day, in opaque amber from the Cretaceous period (around 100 million years ago - Ma) in the Charentes region of France.

After a chance discovery in the collection's repository, a Basel researcher provides the first evidence of the existence of monitor lizards in Switzerland. While working in the vertebrate fossil collection at Basel's Natural History Museum, paleontologist Bastien Mennecart's eye was caught by two teeth of a large lizard.

International research team sheds light on puberty of extinct vertebrates some 240 million years ago Fossil skeletons have long fascinated researchers as a window to prehistory. But so far, little is known about details of sexual development in extinct creatures. An international team of researchers from China, Germany and Japan, with significant participation from the University of Bonn, reports on the puberty of Keichousaurus in the journal Current Biology.