A revolutionary study from the University of Liverpool has upended fundamental assumptions about the fossilization process, potentially transforming how scientists approach the study of ancient life.

For many years, it was widely believed that fossils no longer contained any original organic molecules as the fossilization process was thought to destroy them. Now, a groundbreaking study, led by the ...

“A DNA strand, like me, is a blueprint for building a living thing” says the anthropomorphic double-helix Mr. DNA at the beginning of 1993’s Jurassic Park, “...And sometimes, animals that went extinct ...

The Ediacara Biota are some of the strangest fossils ever found—soft-bodied organisms preserved in remarkable detail where preservation shouldn’t be possible. Scientists now think their survival in ...

Paleontologists have long studied the fossilized remains of animals from the Cambrian period, a time when many major groups of animals began to evolve. However, finding delicate, soft-bodied embryos ...

Many feathered dinosaurs couldn’t fly — at least, not like birds do today. But the reptiles’ feathers may have been more birdlike than scientists thought. Yet fossilization can change feather proteins ...

Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather evolution. Previous studies suggested that ...

Paleontologists at University College Cork (UCC) have found the first molecular evidence of pheomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger coloration, in the fossil record. The new study reports the ...

Deep-time fossils usually don't reveal the sex of the ancient creature, but new research aims to change that. Reading time 6 minutes How can you tell if a dinosaur is female or male? It’s one of the ...

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment. Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the ...