Scientists dissolved a boulder in acid – and a thylacine jumped out
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Animals

Scientists dissolved a boulder in acid – and a thylacine jumped out

The bone-crushing fossilised jaws were one of three Tasmanian tiger ancestors uncovered by palaeontologists,amid a contentious effort to resurrect the marsupial carnivore.

  • byAngus Dalton

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Giant ‘sea scorpions’ hunted Australian waters like sharks
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Science

Giant ‘sea scorpions’ hunted Australian waters like sharks

Two new species that ruled the ancient oceans as crocodile-sized apex predators have been uncovered in NSW.

  • byAngus Dalton
$67 million stegosaurus upends the dinosaur hierarchy

$67 million stegosaurus upends the dinosaur hierarchy

A billionaire hedge fund founder has splashed around nine times Sotheby’s presale estimate for a stegosaurus skeleton,making it the most valuable fossil sold at an auction.

  • byChris Bryant
Meet the ‘echidnapus’,a bizarre blend of the world’s strangest creatures
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Animals

Meet the ‘echidnapus’,a bizarre blend of the world’s strangest creatures

Scientists led by Tim Flannery have unearthed evidence for a previously unknown “age of monotremes” when egg-laying mammals dominated Australia.

  • byAngus Dalton
No more ‘Homo stupidus’:Why Neanderthals are getting a makeover
Explainer
Evolution

No more ‘Homo stupidus’:Why Neanderthals are getting a makeover

They were shrewd,complex and creative,and we shared the planet with them (and other types of humans) for thousands of years. So why did the Neanderthals die out and not us?

  • byAngus Holland
Starfish cousin caught in the act of cloning itself

Starfish cousin caught in the act of cloning itself

A recently discovered fossil in Germany pushes the origin of cloning sea stars back more than 150 million years in first-ever evidence for the phenomenon.

  • byJack Tamisiea
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In an undiscovered cave,Josh came face-to-face with a human-sized skull

In an undiscovered cave,Josh came face-to-face with a human-sized skull

One of Australia’s most complete fossils to date has emerged from a labyrinth in regional Victoria.

  • byAngus Dalton
The hidden Melbourne beach teeming with rare fossils

The hidden Melbourne beach teeming with rare fossils

Mega sharks and a bird with a six-metre wingspan graced our shoreline 5 million years ago,and urban explorers can still uncover traces of them at this bayside beach.

  • byPetra Stock
We now know what killed humans’ largest relative – and it’s eerie

We now know what killed humans’ largest relative – and it’s eerie

By analysing fossils from Chinese caves,Australian scientists have helped uncover one of palaeontology’s biggest mysteries.

  • byAngus Dalton
A Murray River fossil rewrites the history of earth’s biggest creatures

A Murray River fossil rewrites the history of earth’s biggest creatures

The pale-white slab was locked away for a century. New analysis has redefined the history of the ocean and all the creatures that depend on it – including humans.

  • byAngus Dalton
Scientists finally identify chicken farmer’s 240 million-year-old fossil
Exclusive
Evolution

Scientists finally identify chicken farmer’s 240 million-year-old fossil

Nearly 30 years ago a retired farmer found a salamander-like prehistoric amphibian in a sandstone block. It hasn’t been formally identified – until now.

  • byAngus Dalton