Standing on the summit of Mount Everest feels like reaching the highest possible point on Earth. The mountain rises nearly nine kilometres above sea level, surrounded by ice, rock and thin air. Yet the rocks beneath a climber’s boots tell a very different story.

A new study by the University of Minnesota challenges previous classifications paleontologists use to determine how the fossil record is formed. They investigated how dinosaur and mammal bones are transported and buried by floodwaters to understand how the ...

A fragment of upper jaw fossil from the Early Cretaceous is among the oldest examples of a toothless amphibian in the fossil record Chihiro Kai The arid valleys of Wyoming’s Cloverly Formation are drastically different from the humid and subtropical ...

The three fossil specimens (from left to right), Avisaurus darwini, Avisaurus sp., and Magnusavis ekalakaensis, all of which are represented by a tarsometatarsus. They are all shown to scale with one another. “Based on clues in their foot bones, we think ...

Scientists confirm CT scanning doesn't interfere with natural decomposition processes, opening new windows into understanding how fossils form. Scientists have found that X-Ray scanning reveals secrets of fossil formation without disturbing the decay of ...

When we think of fossils it is usually of dinosaurs, or perhaps the beautiful spiral shape of an ammonite picked up on a beach during a summer holiday. We see fossils as ancient relics of the deep past that allow us to marvel at the history of life on ...

A large T. rex skeleton nicknamed ‘Gus’ is on track to break auction records, and highlight one of paleontology’s biggest predicaments.

One of the most extraordinary fossil beds of Cretaceous creatures in the world formed about 125 million years ago, in what’s now northeastern China. Researchers have thought that the diverse members of this ancient community were abruptly buried by ...