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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 study led by UCL researchers.

To the point Difference between humans, chimpanzees and Neanderthals: In humans, facial growth slows during childhood and stops during adolescence. Decline in bone cell activity: During puberty, the activity of the skull bone cells comes to a halt. This helps to keep the face smaller in adulthood. The human face is strikingly distinct from our fossil cousins and ancestors - most notably, it is significantly smaller, and more gracile.

Guy Plint is no stranger to tracking prehistoric beasts.

The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new study involving a UCL researcher. The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new study involving a UCL researcher.

The remains of the earliest dinosaurs may lie undiscovered in the Amazon and other equatorial regions of South America and Africa, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. Currently, the oldest known dinosaur fossils date back about 230 million years and were unearthed further south in places including Brazil, Argentina and Zimbabwe.

How and when did dinosaurs first emerge and spread across the planet more than 200 million years ago? That question has for decades been a source of debate among paleontologists faced with fragmented fossil records. The mainstream view has held that the reptiles emerged on the southern portion of the ancient supercontinent Pangea called Gondwana millions of years before spreading to the northern half named Laurasia.

Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints.

New research has provided fresh insights into the dramatic events surrounding the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The extinction of the Dinosaur was a tumultuous time that included some of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history, as well as the impact of a 10-15 km wide asteroid.

To better understand how modern human brains work, one ANU expert is using cutting-edge technology to study skulls from our ancient ancestors.

Findings reveal rich dinosaur fauna on the edge of an ancient sea at a time of rising sea levels and a changing environment about 75 million years ago, researchers say Paleontologists and students from McGill University have documented Saskatchewan's first confirmed fossil specimens of Centrosaurus , a horned dinosaur species closely related to Triceratops .

Using a particle accelerator, a scientific team has identified a new species of these fish, considered to be 'living fossils'.

Ancient "gold" bug fossils, infused with pyrite, have been identified as a new species of arthropod.

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Graham Sheilds and Elias Rugen (both UCL Earth Sciences) discuss their discovery of rocks proving the polar ice caps once expanded so far they joined up around the equator. More than 700 million years ago, the Earth was plunged into a state that geologists call  "snowball Earth" , when our planet was entirely encased in ice.

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A short but robust little shrimp may have died out over 330 million years ago during the Carboniferous period, but the rare Scottish shellfish has been revitalised as a new species to science and as a Glaswegian.

Part of the research team in 2020 examining the initial finds (at the back) of the new discovery made by Ruby and Justin Reynolds. Additional sections of the bone were subsequently discovered. From left to right, Dr Dean Lomax, Ruby Reynolds, Justin Reynolds and Paul de la Salle. Credit: Dr Dean Lomax A palaeontologist at The University of Manchester has identified the fossilised remains of a second gigantic jawbone measuring more than two metres long.

The oceans were full of large apex predators 66 million years ago, in contrast to modern times.

New species of duckbill dinosaur found in Africa indicates they were diverse, with at least three species inhabiting north Africa at the end of the Cretaceous.

The last time atmospheric carbon dioxide consistently reached today's human-driven levels was 14 million years ago, researchers have found.

Helioscopus dickersonae lived in North America in the late Jurassic period, 100 million years earlier than any previously known early gecko relative.

Yale paleontologists have identified a -problematic- fossil as an ancient sea creature that lived in the plankton 420 million years ago. The mystery of Ezekiel's Wheel - the extinct sea creature, not the Biblical vision - may have taken its final turn, thanks to Yale paleontologists. In so doing, the researchers have also finally put a scientific name to the favorite fossil of a beloved amateur fossil hunter.

Research project traces 60 million years of elephant evolution and how humans may be the species' undoing University of Michigan researcher Bill Sanders poses with a newly discovered skull and skeleton of a palaeoloxodont elephant, which is about 1.2 million years old.

Geologists have long known that around 155 million years ago, a 5000 km long piece of continent broke off western Australia and drifted away.

New Milner Centre for Evolution study tracks how "flower power" survived mass extinction 66 million years ago to become the dominant plant type Published on Wednesday 13 September 2023 Last updated on Wednesday 13 September 2023 A new study by researchers from the University of Bath (UK) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico) shows that flowering plants escaped relatively unscathed from the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Fossils of two new abelisaurs have been discovered in Morocco, showing the diversity of dinosaurs in this region at the end of the Cretaceous period.

A perfectly preserved turtle fossil from Lower Bavaria yields important clues about both the species and the habitat that existed in southern Germany 150 million years ago.

Using a particular type of sedimentary rocks as their guide, researchers begin to tackle the question of when animals first appeared on Earth.

Digital modelling of legendary fossil's soft tissue suggests Australopithecus afarensis had powerful leg and pelvic muscles suited to tree dwelling, but knee muscles that allowed fully erect walking.

An artist's depiction of a newly described species of pachycephalosaur that was named Platytholus clemensi, after the late UC Berkeley paleontologist William Clemens.

Study: Human consumption of large herbivore digesta and its implications for foraging theory Early human foragers may have relied on eating the partially digested vegetable matter, called digesta, found in the stomachs and digestive tracts of bison and other large game herbivores.

An almost metre-long footprint made by a giant, meat-eating theropod dinosaur from the Jurassic Period represents the largest of its kind ever found in Yorkshire. Curiously, the unusual footprint appears to capture the moment that the dinosaur rested or crouched down some 166 million years ago. The Yorkshire coast is renowned for producing some visually and scientifically incredible fossils, including thousands of dinosaur footprints.

Study: Exceptional fossil preservation and evolution of the ray-finned fish brain DOI 10.1038/s41586'022 -05666-1 The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.

Microraptor was an opportunistic predator, feeding on fish, birds, lizards - and now small mammals. The discovery of a rare fossil reveals the creature was a generalist carnivore in the ancient ecosystem of dinosaurs. Finding the last meal of any fossil animal is rare. When McGill University Professor Hans Larsson saw a complete mammal foot inside the rib cage of the small, feathered dinosaur, his jaw dropped.

For paleontologists, Hammerschmiede in the Allgäu region, the site where the great ape Danuvius was discovered, is a treasure trove unlike any other: more than 140 fossil vertebrate species have been found here.

A new study by Yale paleontologists charts the radical evolutionary changes to the thigh bones of dinosaurs and birds that allowed them to stand on two feet. Dinosaurs - and birds - wouldn't have been able to stand on their own two feet without some radical changes to their upper thigh bones. Now, a new study by Yale paleontologists charts the evolutionary course of these leggy alterations.

The remains of glyptodonts, a group of extinct giant armadillos, indicate that humans spread to South America earlier than previously assumed. Found in northwestern Venezuela, the fractured skulls could represent evidence of hunting by humans, says UZH paleontologist Marcelo Sánchez. Skilled human hunters are also likely to have contributed to pushing the large, heavily armored animals over the brink.

Tenaya Canyon (center) and part of Yosemite Valley (foreground) as seen from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.

An extinct reptile's oddly shaped chompers, fingers, and ear bones may tell us quite a bit about the resilience of life on Earth, according to a new study. In fact, paleontologists at Yale, Sam Houston State University, and the University of the Witwatersrand say the 250-million-year-old reptile, known as Palacrodon, fills in an important gap in our understanding of reptile evolution.

New Curtin-led research has discovered that a group of flowering plants with more than one thousand species worldwide is 150 million years older than botanists previously believed.

The discovery of three anicent bodies on Indonesia's Alor Island tells new stories of the earliest humans in island Southeast Asia. If three ancient bodies buried in Indonesia could talk, researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) say they would tell stories of the earliest humans in island Southeast Asia.