Paleontology
Lucy at 50
Donald Johanson reflects on his fossil discovery that shook the human family tree a half century ago.
What Happened to Ancient Megafauna?
Recent studies show it wasn’t the climate that did them in.
Unraveling the Evolution of Flight
Bird brain scans and dinosaur fossils hint at when the first creatures grew wings.
A Day in the Life of a Fossil Preparator
Recreating the past requires as much art and craft as science.
Digging for Our Origins in the Bone Beds of an African Park
In their search for the last common ancestor of chimps and humans, scientists at Gorongosa National Park are expanding the picture of early primate life.
Portrait of the Human as a Young Hominin
How the world looked when we were Australopithecus.
What Made Early Humans Smart
Walking upright made our ancestors easy prey. It also made them get smart.
Redefining Dinosaurs: Paleontologists are Shaking the Dinosaur Family Tree to its Roots.
A radical reconfiguration of the long-standing dinosaur family tree challenges an orthodoxy built on roughly a century and a half of research.
Why We Love Dinosaurs
If museums of natural history are temples to science, dinosaurs are their shrines.
