The missing link in the mystery turned out to be an event called the Cambrian explosion. It was only after it that living ...

About 445 million years ago, Earth nearly wiped out life in the oceans. Glaciers spread across the supercontinent Gondwana, ...

Sponges are among Earth's most ancient animals, but exactly when they evolved has long puzzled scientists. Genetic ...

The fossil record of baleen whales (Mysticeti) offers a window into one of the most dramatic evolutionary transitions among mammals. Early cetaceans evolved from terrestrial artiodactyl ancestors into ...

Jawbones and other remains, similar to specimens found in Europe, were dated to 773,000 years and help close a gap in ...

The oldest fossilized remains of complex animals appear suddenly in the fossil record, and as if from nowhere, in rocks that ...

During these waves of mass extinction, most vertebrate survivors were confined to refugia, or isolated biodiversity hotspots ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Fossil discoveries unlock chapters of our planet’s storied ...

Beginning with a recently discovered 47-million-year-old primate fossil, Switek effectively and eloquently demonstrates the exponential increase in fossils that have been found since Darwin first ...

Human fossils uncovered in a cave at the Thomas I quarry near Casablanca are offering fresh insight into a critical phase of ...

Parasites of Fossil Vertebrates: What We Know and What can We Expect from the Fossil Record? / Tommy L. F. Leung -- Fossil Record of Viruses, Parasitic Bacteria and Parasitic Protozoa / George Poinar ...