Evolution News

November 28, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Find a Surprising Link Between Lead and Human Evolution

Nov. 16, 2025 Researchers found that ancient hominids—including early humans—were exposed to lead throughout childhood, leaving chemical traces in fossil teeth. Experiments suggest this exposure may have driven genetic changes that strengthened ...

Ancient DNA Reveals the Deadly Diseases Behind Napoleon’s Defeat

Oct. 26, 2025 Researchers have uncovered microbial evidence in the remains of Napoleon’s soldiers from the 1812 Russian retreat. Genetic analysis revealed pathogens behind paratyphoid and relapsing fever, diseases likely contributing to the army’s massive ...

From Poison to Power: How Lead Exposure Helped Shape Human Intelligence

Oct. 16, 2025 Long before humans built cities or wrote words, our ancestors may have faced a hidden threat that shaped who we became. Scientists studying ancient teeth found that early humans, great apes, and even Neanderthals were exposed to lead millions of ...

The Hidden Denisovan Gene That Helped Humans Conquer a New World

Oct. 7, 2025 Ancient humans crossing the Bering Strait into the Americas carried more than tools and determination—they also carried a genetic legacy from Denisovans, an extinct human relative. A new study reveals that a mysterious gene called MUC19, inherited ...

Ancient DNA Finally Solves the Mystery of the World’s First Pandemic

Aug. 30, 2025 Scientists have finally uncovered direct genetic evidence of Yersinia pestis — the bacterium behind the Plague of Justinian — in a mass grave in Jerash, Jordan. This long-sought discovery resolves a centuries-old debate, confirming that the ...

Scientists Just Uncovered Three Ancient Worlds Frozen Beneath Illinois for 300 Million Years

Aug. 9, 2025 Over 300 million years ago, Illinois teemed with life in tropical swamps and seas, now preserved at the famous Mazon Creek fossil site. Researchers from the University of Missouri and geologist ...

When Rainforests Died, the Planet Caught Fire: New Clues from Earth’s Greatest Extinction

July 3, 2025 When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ ...

New Velvet Worm Species a First for the Arid Karoo

May 30, 2025 A new species of velvet worm, Peripatopsis barnardi, represents the first ever species from the arid Karoo, which indicates that the area was likely historically more forested than at present. In the Cape Fold Mountains, we now know that every ...

Long Shot Science Leads to Revised Age for Land-animal Ancestor

May 29, 2025 The fossils of ancient salamander-like creatures in Scotland are among the most well-preserved examples of early stem tetrapods -- some of the first animals to make the transition from water to land. Thanks to new research, scientists believe that ...

Leprosy Existed in America Long Before Arrival of Europeans

May 29, 2025 Long considered a disease brought to the Americas by European colonizers, leprosy may actually have a much older history on the American continent. Scientists reveal that a recently identified second species of bacteria responsible for leprosy, ...

Europe's Most Complete Stegosaurian Skull Unearthed in Teruel, Spain

May 29, 2025 Palaeontologists have analyzed the most complete stegosaurian skull ever found in Europe and rewritten the evolutionary history of this iconic group of ...

Bed Bugs Are Most Likely the First Human Pest, New Research Shows

May 28, 2025 Researchers compared the whole genome sequence of two genetically distinct lineages of bed bug, and their findings indicate bed bugs may well be the first true urban ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:52pm EST

A Strange Ancient Foot Reveals a Hidden Human Cousin

Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers have finally assigned a strange 3.4-million-year-old foot to Australopithecus deyiremeda, confirming that Lucy’s species wasn’t alone in ancient Ethiopia. This hominin had an ...

Fossils Reveal a Massive Shark That Ruled Australia in Dinosaur Times

Nov. 22, 2025 Around 115 million years ago, northern Australia’s seas hosted a colossal shark that rewrites what we thought we knew about early ocean predators. New fossil discoveries show that modern-type ...

Scientists Recover 40,000-Year-Old Mammoth RNA Still Packed With Clues

Nov. 15, 2025 Researchers have sequenced the oldest RNA ever recovered, taken from a woolly mammoth frozen for nearly 40,000 years. The RNA reveals which genes were active in its tissues, offering a rare glimpse ...

55-Million-Year-Old Fossils Reveal Bizarre Crocs That Dropped from Trees

Nov. 15, 2025 Scientists uncovered Australia’s oldest known crocodile eggshells, revealing the secret lives of ancient mekosuchine crocodiles that once dominated inland ecosystems. These crocs filled surprising ...

New Neanderthal Footprints in Portugal Reveal a Life We Never Expected

Nov. 13, 2025 Footprints preserved on ancient dunes show Neanderthals actively navigating, hunting, and living along Portugal’s coastline. Their behavior and diet suggest a far more adaptable and socially ...

A Fierce Crocodile Ancestor That Hunted Before Dinosaurs Has Been Found

Nov. 12, 2025 Scientists have identified a new crocodile precursor that looked deceptively dinosaur-like and hunted with speed and precision. Named Tainrakuasuchus bellator, the armored “warrior” lived 240 ...

A 540-Million-Year-Old Fossil Is Rewriting Evolution

Nov. 12, 2025 Over 500 million years ago, the Cambrian Period sparked an explosion of skeletal creativity. Salterella, a peculiar fossil, defied conventions by combining two different mineral-building methods. ...

2 Million-Year-Old Teeth Reveal Secrets from the Dawn of Humanity

Nov. 1, 2025 For decades, Paranthropus robustus has intrigued scientists as a powerful, big-jawed cousin of early humans. Now, thanks to ancient protein analysis, researchers have cracked open new secrets hidden ...

Humans Evolved Faster Than Any Other Ape

Oct. 29, 2025 UCL scientists found that human skulls evolved much faster than those of other apes, reflecting the powerful forces driving our brain growth and facial flattening. By comparing 3D models of ape ...

Hidden for 70 Million Years, a Tiny Fossil Fish Is Rewriting Freshwater Evolution

Oct. 5, 2025 Researchers in Alberta uncovered a fossil fish that rewrites the evolutionary history of otophysans, which today dominate freshwater ecosystems. The ...

Earlier Headlines

Scientists Uncover a Mysterious Jurassic Lizard With Snake-Like Jaws

Oct. 2, 2025 A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, ...

Hidden for 125 Years, a Welsh Fossil Turns out to Be a Dinosaur

Sep. 22, 2025 More than a century after its discovery, a mysterious fossil from South Wales has finally been confirmed as belonging to a new species of predatory dinosaur. Using cutting-edge digital scanning, ...

Woolly Mammoth Teeth Reveal the World’s Oldest Microbial DNA

Sep. 5, 2025 Scientists have uncovered microbial DNA preserved in mammoth remains dating back more than one million years, revealing the oldest host-associated microbial DNA ever recovered. By sequencing nearly ...

Bizarre Ankylosaur With Giant Neck Spikes Redefines Dinosaur Evolution

Aug. 30, 2025 Spicomellus afer, a newly analyzed Jurassic ankylosaur from Morocco, is overturning scientists’ understanding of dinosaur evolution. Unlike any other known creature, it carried a collar of ...

Extinct Human Relatives Left a Genetic Gift That Helped People Thrive in the Americas

Aug. 24, 2025 Scientists have discovered that a gene called MUC19, inherited from Denisovans through ancient interbreeding, may have played a vital role in helping Indigenous ancestors adapt as they migrated into ...

140,000-Year-Old Skeleton Shows Earliest Interbreeding Between Humans and Neanderthals

Aug. 21, 2025 Scientists have uncovered the world s earliest fossil showing both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens features: a five-year-old child from Israel s Skhul Cave dating back 140,000 years. This discovery ...

Scientists Just Found Rare Spores Inside a Fossil Older Than Dinosaurs

Sep. 27, 2025 Scientists reclassified a long-misunderstood fossil from Brazil as a new genus, Franscinella riograndensis. Using advanced microscopy, they discovered spores preserved in situ—a rare find that ...

Ancient Fossil Discovery in Ethiopia Rewrites Human Origins

Aug. 21, 2025 In the deserts of Ethiopia, scientists uncovered fossils showing that early members of our genus Homo lived side by side with a newly identified species of Australopithecus nearly three million years ...

Tiny Ancient Whale With a Killer Bite Found in Australia

Aug. 13, 2025 An extraordinary fossil find along Victoria’s Surf Coast has revealed Janjucetus dullardi, a sharp-toothed, dolphin-sized predator that lived 26 million years ago. With large eyes, slicing teeth, ...

500-Million-Year-Old “squid” Were Actually Ferocious Worms

Aug. 25, 2025 A stunning discovery in North Greenland has reclassified strange squid-like fossils, revealing that nectocaridids were not early cephalopods but ancestors of arrow worms. Preserved nervous systems ...

Bizarre Ancient Creatures Unearthed in the Grand Canyon

Aug. 14, 2025 A groundbreaking fossil discovery in the Grand Canyon has unveiled exquisitely preserved soft-bodied animals from the Cambrian period, offering an unprecedented glimpse into early life more than 500 ...

Stunning “wonder Reptile” Discovery Rewrites the Origins of Feathers

Aug. 9, 2025 The newly described Mirasaura grauvogeli from the Middle Triassic had a striking feather-like crest, hinting that complex skin appendages arose far earlier than previously believed. Its bird-like ...

Forgotten Rock in Japan Reveals 220-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur Fossil

Aug. 25, 2025 A chance glance at a museum display has led to the first-ever discovery of an ichthyosaur fossil in western Japan, dating back around 220 million years. Initially mistaken for a common bivalve ...

Tiny Fossil With Razor Teeth Found by Student — Rewrites Mammal History

July 12, 2025 A university student on a fossil-hunting field trip in Dorset made a stunning discovery: a 145-million-year-old jawbone belonging to a previously unknown mammal species with razor-like teeth. With ...

North America’s Oldest Pterosaur Unearthed in Arizona’s Triassic Time Capsule

July 8, 2025 In the remote reaches of Arizona s Petrified Forest National Park, scientists have unearthed North America's oldest known pterosaur a small, gull-sized flier that once soared above Triassic ...

These 545-Million-Year-Old Fossil Trails Just Rewrote the Story of Evolution

June 27, 2025 A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ...

Mammals Didn't Walk Upright Until Late—here's What Fossils Reveal

June 25, 2025 The shift from lizard-like sprawl to upright walking in mammals wasn’t a smooth climb up the evolutionary ladder. Instead, it was a messy saga full of unexpected detours. Using new bone-mapping ...

Scientists Discover Armored “goblin Monster” in Prehistoric Utah

Aug. 29, 2025 Scientists have identified a new giant lizard, Bolg amondol, from Utah’s Kaiparowits Formation, named after Tolkien’s goblin prince. Part of the monstersaur lineage, Bolg reveals that multiple ...

Monster Salamander With Powerful Jaws Unearthed in Tennessee Fossil Find

June 17, 2025 A massive, extinct salamander with jaws like a vice once roamed ancient Tennessee and its fossil has just rewritten what we thought we knew about Appalachian amphibians. Named Dynamognathus ...

160 Million Years Ago, This Fungus Pierced Trees Like a Microscopic Spear

June 8, 2025 In a paper published in National Science Review, a Chinese team of scientists highlights the discovery of well-preserved blue-stain fungal hyphae within a Jurassic fossil wood from northeastern ...