Researchers determined that Tyrannosaurus rex maintained a body temperature of approximately 97 degrees Fahrenheit, based on analysis of fossilized remains and growth rates. This finding provides new insight into the metabolic characteristics of one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs.
Fourteen tail vertebrae discovered in eastern Spain represent the first confirmed Diplodocus fossil found outside North America, dating to approximately 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic. The finding strengthens evidence that dinosaurs migrated between Europe and North America when temporary land connections may have existed across the developing proto-Atlantic Ocean.
Scientists discovered fossil jaws from giant octopuses that lived 100-72 million years ago in the Cretaceous Pacific, revealing apex predators up to 20 meters long with wear patterns indicating aggressive hunting of hard-shelled prey, providing a possible biological basis for kraken legends.
Scientists have directly estimated Tyrannosaurus rex's body temperature at approximately 97 degrees Fahrenheit using chemical analysis of fossilized tooth enamel, confirming decades of suspicions that the predator was warm-blooded. The technique, which measures isotope bonds in tooth enamel, reveals that T. rex maintained an active metabolism comparable to modern humans, positioning it between cold-blooded reptiles and warm-blooded birds. This finding provides new insights into the dinosaur's behavior, physiology, and ecological role 66 to 69 million years ago.
Excavations at Bianfu Cave in China's Yunnan Province have uncovered the richest collection of Denisovan fossils to date, including remains of at least three individuals who lived 167,000–134,000 years ago. Alongside over 1,300 tools and 1,600 butchered animal bones, the findings provide rare insights into Denisovan culture and hunting practices, significantly expanding knowledge of this ancient human species.
Scientists discovered that massive titanosaurs couldn't incubate their eggs by sitting on them, so they used a crocodile-like strategy instead. Analysis of microscopic pores in fossilized eggshells found in cool southern Argentina reveals these giant dinosaurs buried their eggs in decomposing vegetation to generate heat for hatching.
Scientists discovered the world's oldest evidence of habitual drug use in Indonesia, where ice age hunter-gatherers sucked on betel nuts 25,000 years ago to relieve toothache pain. The neuroactive substance in the nuts caused distinctive grooves in the teeth of two prehistoric individuals found on Sulawesi, separated by thousands of years. This practice predates other known habitual drug use by plant-based substances in prehistoric societies.
Scientists discovered rare bird feathers preserved in fossilized dinosaur feces from 66 million years ago at Montana's Hell Creek Formation, providing new insights into Late Cretaceous bird morphology and extinction patterns. Separately, paleontologists found fossilized titanosaur eggs in Patagonia that reveal breeding behaviors of the largest land animals ever.
Bones found in Yukon caves were identified as an extinct American cheetah through DNA analysis, revealing the ice-age predator survived by eating salmon in Arctic tundra—a drastically different diet and habitat from cheetahs in lower North America. The discovery, made by lab technician Molly Cassatt-Johnstone, was confirmed through stable isotope analysis and published in Current Biology.