The first evidence of human life in the Olorgesailie Basin comes from about 1.2 million years ago. For hundreds of the thousands of years, people living there made and used large stone-cutting tools called handaxes (left).

Scientists discover evidence of early human innovation, pushing back evolutionary timeline

Skeleton of the dicynodont Placerias

60-year-old paleontological mystery of a ‘phantom’ dicynodont

Volcanic Eruption

Scientists helping to improve understanding of plate tectonics

Underwater bathymetric view with gas venting captured in April 2017.

Underwater volcano behavior captured by timely scientific expedition

The Munich specimen of the transitional bird Archaeopteryx. It preserves a partial skull (top left), shoulder girdle and both wings slightly raised up (most left to center left), the ribcage (center), and the pelvic girdle and both legs in a 'cycling' posture (right); all connected by the vertebral column from the neck (top left, under the skull) to the tip of the tail (most right). Imprints of its wing feathers are visible radiating from below the shoulder and vague imprints of the tail plumage can be recognized extending from the tip of the tail.

The early bird got to fly: Archaeopteryx was an active flyer

Some of the Moroccan pterosaur fossils from the study.

Pterosaurs went out with a bang, not a whimper

The well-preserved tooth is an estimated 2-2.5 million years old and belonged to a Megalodon, regarded as one of the largest and most powerful fish to have ever lived

Ancient giant shark tooth goes missing in Australia

The eruption of Alaska’s Pavlof Volcano as seen from the International Space Station May 18, 2013.

Ash from dinosaur-era volcanoes linked with shale oil, gas

Map shows earthquake epicenters (surrounded in light red) offshore where the Cocos and North American tectonic plates meet. The newer fault zone is inland, the black lines mark the changing trajectories of abyssal hills atop the descending Cocos Plate. Blue-shaded areas in this zone are where subduction angles remain steep. The pink area, below Mexico City, is a transition zone where another earthquake could occur. The 2017, 1999 and 1980 quake epicenters are in a red-shaded zone to the southeast that is considered to be at most risk for quakes.

Mexico’s 2017 earthquake emerged from a growing risk zone

Reconstruction of the late Ediacaran (ca. 550 million years ago) sea floor with burrows of a worm-like animal.This was the first discovery of such deeply penetrating burrows.

Digging up the Precambrian: Fossil burrows show early origins of animal...

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