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Artist's impression of Navaornis, a bird from the age of dinosaurs.

Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence

13 Nov 2024

A ‘one of a kind’ fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the...

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Heliocolocellus fossil

‘Missing’ sea sponges discovered

05 Jun 2024

̽»¨Ö±²¥discovery, published in Nature, opens a new window on early animal evolution.

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Illustration of Calamophyton trees

Earth’s earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils

07 Mar 2024

̽»¨Ö±²¥oldest fossilised forest known on Earth – dating from 390 million years ago – has been found in the high sandstone cliffs along the Devon and...

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̽»¨Ö±²¥largest penguin that ever lived

09 Feb 2023

Fossil bones from two newly-described penguin species, one of them thought to be the largest penguin to ever live – weighing more than 150 kilograms...

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Janavis finalidens, the last known toothed bird.

Bird beak evolved before dinosaur extinction

30 Nov 2022

Fossilised fragments of a skeleton, hidden within a rock the size of a grapefruit, have helped upend one of the longest-standing assumptions about...

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Shaking the dinosaur family tree: how did ‘bird-hipped’ dinosaurs evolve?

21 Sep 2022

Researchers have conducted a new analysis of the origins of ‘bird-hipped’ dinosaurs – the group which includes iconic species such as Triceratops –...

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What did Megalodon eat? Anything it wanted — including other predators

23 Jun 2022

New research involving the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge shows that prehistoric megatooth sharks — the biggest sharks that ever lived — were the ultimate...

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Millipedes ‘as big as cars’ once roamed England

21 Dec 2021

̽»¨Ö±²¥largest-ever fossil of a giant millipede – as big as a car – has been found on a beach in the north of England.

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New starfish-like fossil reveals evolution in action

20 Jan 2021

Researchers from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge have discovered a fossil of the earliest starfish-like animal, which helps us understand the origins of...

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Scelidosaurus: ready for its closeup at last

26 Aug 2020

̽»¨Ö±²¥first complete dinosaur skeleton ever identified has finally been studied in detail and found its place in the dinosaur family tree, completing a...

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‘Wonderchicken’ fossil from the age of dinosaurs reveals origin of modern birds

18 Mar 2020

̽»¨Ö±²¥oldest fossil of a modern bird yet found, dating from the age of dinosaurs, has been identified by an international team of palaeontologists.

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Half billion-year-old 'social network' observed in early animals

05 Mar 2020

Some of the first animals on Earth were connected by networks of thread-like filaments, the earliest evidence yet found of life being connected in...

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