New Atlas

Biology Audio available

Dinosaurs' noses may have air-conditioned their brains

Ben Coxworth December 20, 2018

The earth was a much hotter place in prehistoric times, so it follows that large heavily-armored dinosaurs likely retained a lot of heat in their bodies. A new study suggests that their brains were protected from overheating, however, thanks to a heat exchanging system in their noses.

The ankylosaurus apparently had a nose for keeping a cool head

Science Audio available

Fluffy pterosaurs push evolution of feathered friends back 70 million years

Michael Irving December 17, 2018

A new study paints pterosaurs as far cuddlier creatures than we might have thought. According to an international team of palaeontologists, pterosaurs were covered in no less than four different types of feathers, pushing back the origin of this bodily covering by about 70 million years.

An artist's reconstruction of a feathered pterosaur

Science Audio available

Ancient elephant-sized mammal ancestor gave dinosaurs a run for their money

Michael Irving November 22, 2018

While dinosaurs were the biggest land animals ever, mammals were mostly rat-sized critters running around underfoot. But now palaeontologists have described a mammal ancestor from the Triassic Period that grew to the size of an elephant, giving those early dinosaurs a run for their money.

An artist's reconstruction of Lisowicia bojani, an elephant-sized ancestor of mammals that lived during the Triassic

Science

Sparrow-sized raptors left the smallest dinosaur footprints ever found

Michael Irving November 19, 2018

Most of the records that dinosaurs break are in the “world’s largest” category. But now palaeontologists have discovered the smallest dinosaur tracks ever found, which were made by a previously-unknown species of raptor the size of a sparrow.

A recreation of Dromaeosauriformipes rarus, the tiny new raptor species that's thought to be responsible for ...

Biology

Newly-classified dinosaur was world's largest at the time

Ben Coxworth September 28, 2018

Ledumahadi mafube was the world's largest land animal when it existed almost 200 million years ago. Despite this fact, none of the dinosaur's fossilized remains were discovered until relatively recently, and it has only now been scientifically classified.

An artist's reconstruction of Ledumahadi mafube foraging in the Early Jurassic of South Africa

Science Audio available

"Dinosaur superhighway" tracked to fossil footprints in Alaska

Michael Irving August 6, 2018

One of the most unusual examples of fossil footprints has been uncovered in Alaska, with hadrosaur and therizionosaur tracks found side-by-side in what may have been the “dinosaur superhighway” connecting Asia to North America.

An artist's imagining of therizinosaurs (left) and hadrosaurs (right) living side-by-side in ancient Alaska

Science

Enormous dinosaur foot turns out to be world's largest

Ben Coxworth July 24, 2018

Back in 1998, scientists from the University of Kansas unearthed a gigantic fossilized dinosaur foot in the Black Hills of Wyoming. Nicknamed "Bigfoot" at the time, it's now been officially certified as the largest dinosaur foot ever found.

A photograph from the excavations in 1998, with the brachiosaur foot bones below a tail of ...

Science

200-million year old monster pushes back the clock on giant dinosaurs

Michael Irving July 11, 2018

Dinosaurs weren’t always giants – during the Triassic period they were mostly chicken-sized critters, and they didn’t really grow to be massive until the Jurassic. Now, the discovery of a new species in Argentina is pushing back the clock on dinosaur gigantism by up to 30 million years.

At about 10 tons, Ingentia prima was the first giant dinosaur

Science

Reptilian-mammal fossil changes the timeline of supercontinent breakup

Michael Irving May 25, 2018

If you feel like you’ve had some drawn-out breakups, think of the supercontinent of Pangaea, which took tens of millions of years to split up. Now a unique fossil skull might readjust the timeline, with a strange creature turning up on a different continent to its previously-discovered relatives.

An artist's rendition of Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, a transitional creature between reptiles and mammals that may readjust ...

Science

Nature's first known beak belonged to this dinosaur

James Holloway May 3, 2018

Scientists have pieced together what they think is the first bird beak ever to have evolved. It belongs to Ichthyornis dispar, which lived in North America nearly 100 million years ago. It's thought that its beak evolved as a surrogate hand to compensate for its forelimbs having evolved into wings.

Scientists think that the beak of Ichthyornis dispar evolved as a surrogate hand