EurekAlert! In the Spotlight

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

This month, we’re journeying back in time to explore the incredible world of dinosaurs. From their place in the Mesozoic Era to the latest discoveries reshaping what we know about them, join us as we dig into all things dinosaur in this month’s In the Spotlight topic.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 4-Aug-2025 18:11 ET (4-Aug-2025 22:11 GMT/UTC)

9-Apr-2025

Jurassic fossil sheds light on evolutionary origins of thorny-headed worms

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified a fossil acanthocephalan, Juracanthocephalus, from the 160-million-year-old Daohugou Biota in Inner Mongolia, China.

Journal: Nature

8-Apr-2025

Life recovered rapidly at site of dino-killing asteroid. A hydrothermal system may have helped.

University of Texas at Austin
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs and about 70% of all marine species. But the crater it left behind in the Gulf of Mexico was a literal hotbed for life enriching the overlying ocean for at least 700,000 years, according to research published today in Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications

8-Apr-2025

Dinosaurs’ apparent decline prior to asteroid may be due to poor fossil record

University College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The idea that dinosaurs were already in decline before an asteroid wiped most of them out 66 million years ago may be explained by a worsening fossil record from that time rather than a genuine dwindling of dinosaur species, suggests a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

Journal: Current Biology

2-Apr-2025

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Jurassic dinosaurs milled about ancient Scottish lagoons, leaving up to 131 footprints at a newly discovered stomping ground on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, according to a study published April 2, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Tone Blakesley of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS One

2-Apr-2025

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dozens of amphibians perished together on an ancient floodplain around 230 million years ago, according to a study published April 2, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Aaron M. Kufner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS One

2-Apr-2025

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Journal: PLOS One

1-Apr-2025

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

University of Bristol
Peer-Reviewed Publication

More mammals were living on the ground several million years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, new research led by the University of Bristol has revealed.

Journal: Palaeontology