Paleontology is undergoing a new renaissance. Since the mid-20th century, genomics has become the main focus of evolutionary biology. But the last few decades have shown how the study of fossils can ...

The Cambrian period, often celebrated for the “Cambrian explosion”, marked a pivotal phase in the history of life when early arthropods emerged and rapidly diversified. These organisms not only ...

Add Popular Science (opens in a new tab) More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.

The Burgess Shale is located in British Columbia and is a site of marine fossils that are 506 million years old. It is celebrated for its “weird wonders,” containing a treasure trove of astonishingly ...

Rare fossils preserving the brains of creatures living more than half a billion years ago shed new light on the evolution of arthropods. Exquisitely preserved fossils left behind by creatures living ...

Around half a billion years ago, in what is now the Yunnan Province of China, a tiny larva was trapped in mud. Hundreds of millions of years later, after the mud had long since become the black shales ...

A team of scientists have discovered an ancient arthropod that may show the origins of branched limbs and the first gill-like breathing structures in the clade. When researchers working in ...

Researchers formally describe Helmetia expansa, offering new insights into its anatomy, behavior and evolutionary relationships. For over a century, the Cambrian arthropod Helmetia expansa remained a ...

An illustration of the taco-shaped Odaraia, which researchers say likely swam upside-down and trapped prey in its spine-covered legs. Danielle Dufault, Royal Ontario Museum Around 540 million years ...

The Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders — previously known as Annual Tables — reveal the leading institutions and countries/territories in the natural and health sciences, according to their output in ...