New data from vegetal charcoal in northwest India supports the theory of paleowildfires as a global phenomenon and an evolutionary force for biodiversity.
fossils & paleontology
Posted inFeatures
When Climate Ruled the Dinosaurs of Grand Staircase
Living in Geologic Time: Navigate the prolific boneyards and shifting boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments.
Posted inNews
Mammoths Lost Their Steppe Habitat to Climate Change
Ancient plant and animal DNA buried in Arctic sediments preserve a 50,000-year history of Arctic ecosystems, suggesting that climate change contributed to mammoth extinction.
Posted inNews
Greener, Wetter Arabia Was a Crossroads of Early Human Migration
Hand axes, hippo bones, and a stack of ancient lake beds show that arid Arabia experienced intervals of humid weather, spurring pulses of human migration over the past 400,000 years.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Multicellular Algae Discovered in an Early Cambrian Formation
A new study describes eukaryotic organisms found organized in a cortex-medulla pattern in southern China’s Kuanchuanpu Formation.
Posted inNews
The Rocky Roads of Colombian Paleontology
Colombia has a wealth of fossils, and geologists are leading the charge to both collect data and share ancient history with local communities.
Posted inNews
Sooty Layers in Stalagmites Record Human Activity in Caves
Scientists analyzing cave formations in Turkey find layers of soot and charcoal in stalagmites, revealing that humans—and their fires—occupied caves thousands of years ago.
Posted inScience Updates
By Land or Sea: How Did Mammals Get to the Caribbean Islands?
A multidisciplinary team is jointly investigating mammal evolution and subduction dynamics to unravel how flightless land mammals migrated to the Greater Antilles and other Caribbean islands.
Posted inFeatures
A Lost Haven for Early Modern Humans
Sea level changes have repeatedly reshaped the Paleo-Agulhas Plain, a now submerged region off the coast of South Africa that once teemed with plants, animals, and human hunter–gatherers.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Why Did Great Apes Disappear from Southwestern China?
Periodic pulses of cooler temperatures may have disrupted the warm, humid, late Miocene climate that sustained the region’s great apes long after most species disappeared elsewhere.