Deep ocean earthquakes drive Southern Ocean’s massive phytoplankton blooms, study finds
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Dec-2025 22:12 ET (18-Dec-2025 03:12 GMT/UTC)
For the first time, scientists have analyzed metabolism-related molecules from the fossilized bones of animals that lived 1.3 to 3 million years ago, revealing insights about both the animals and their environments.
When studying how fossil hominids moved, researchers usually analyse the morphology of bones — which is crucial for understanding the evolution of bipedalism — focusing mainly on muscle insertion sites. However, the potential information of studying other types of soft tissue, such as joint ligaments, is often overlooked. Now, an article published in the journal Scientific Reports emphasizes the importance of studying the anatomy of the insertion points of the wrist ligaments to reconstruct the locomotor behaviour and manipulative dexterity of fossil hominids throughout human evolution.
Researchers from the University of Seville, the IACT-CSIC in Granada and the University of Huelva are participating in an international study that has described fossil footprints that could correspond to elephants from around 125,000 years ago
Among sharks and rays, species within the first four million years of existence are significantly more likely to go extinct than older species, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Zurich based on fossils from the last 145 million years. This shows that in addition to environmental stressors, the evolutionary age of species also plays a crucial role in their survival.
Paleontologists working in a cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola have discovered the first-known instance of ancient bees nesting inside pre-existing fossil cavities.