The oldest-known vocal organ of a bird has been found in an Antarctic fossil that is related to ducks and geese and lived during the age of the dinosaurs, more than 66 million years ago. The discovery of the Mesozoic Era vocal organ — called a syrinx — and its apparent absence in non-avian dinosaur […]
Latest analysis shows that human limbs share a genetic programme with the gills of cartilaginous fishes such as sharks and skates, providing evidence to support a century-old theory on the origin of limbs that had been widely discounted. An idea first proposed 138 years ago that limbs evolved from gills, which has been widely discredited […]
Homo sapiens, the ancestor of modern humans, shared the planet with Neanderthals, a close, heavy-set relative that dwelled almost exclusively in Ice-Age Europe, until some 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals were similar to Homo sapiens, with whom they sometimes mated — but they were different, too. Among these many differences, Neanderthals were shorter and stockier, with […]
The remains of a new species of horse-sized dinosaur reveal how Tyrannosaurus rex became one of Earth’s top predators, a study suggests. The discovery unearthed in Uzbekistan provides key insights into how a family of small-bodied dinosaurs evolved over millions of years to become fearsome giants. The study shows that the dinosaurs — known as […]