Paleontology

By physically engineering their environments, megafauna such as dinosaurs curbed fruit seed sizes—a role that now may be filled by humans

Fossilized claw tracks discovered in Australia show that the animal group that includes reptiles, mammals and birds formed earlier than expected

Studies of the horns, spikes, plates and clubs of dinosaurs could help settle a long-standing debate over their function

In this week’s roundup, catch up on the spread of bird flu in the U.S., a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas and lessons from fossilized vomit.

The huge Stegosaurus fossil Apex, bought at auction for $44.6 million, has debuted on loan at the American Museum of Natural History

Earth’s deadliest mass extinctions have important commonalities—and significant differences

The 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy rose to fame through an incredible combination of circumstances

A gigantic space rock that slammed into Earth more than three billion years ago grievously wounded the biosphere—and then helped it heal

Fossil and gene discoveries paint an ever-more-intertwined history of humans combining with vanished species like Neandertals

Scientists re-create the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a shark

New fossils and analytical tools provide unprecedented insights into dinosaur sensory perception

Around 252 million years ago tardigrades may have escaped extinction using this one weird trick