Read the latest positive news, breakthroughs, and inspiring stories about fossil science, curated daily by BrightWire.
A fierce predator armed with 20-centimeter claws sat unnoticed in a London museum for 100 years before scientists realized they had discovered an entirely new species. The dinosaur lived 120 million years ago on what is now the Isle of Wight.
A high school teacher volunteering on a fossil dig noticed an odd wedge-shaped rock with three toes, leading scientists to discover four complete T. rex footprints. The rare trackway reveals how the ancient predator actually walked, not just what its bones looked like.
A teenager T. rex discovered on a Wyoming ranch is revealing secrets paleontologists never dreamed possible, including clues that these fearsome predators might not have had scales. After 67 million years hidden in rock, this fossil is changing everything we thought we knew about the world's most famous dinosaur.
Copper miners in Inner Mongolia accidentally drilled into a 115-million-year-old dinosaur tail buried nearly 500 meters beneath the surface. The discovery proves ancient fossils can hide in places scientists never thought to look.
Scientists who abandoned a massive fossil on a freezing Arctic island in 1948 never imagined it would become the largest discovery of its kind. Nearly 80 years later, that weathered skull revealed an entirely new species of ancient predator.
A dinosaur bone sat in a Japanese museum for 27 years before scientists discovered it belonged to a surprisingly small coastal dinosaur. The find reveals ancient Fukushima hosted diverse plant-eating giants 90 million years ago.
A single Y-shaped bone in Thailand just revealed a whole new species of long-necked dinosaur and proved these giants roamed much farther than scientists ever imagined. The discovery is rewriting what we know about how these incredible creatures spread across the ancient world.
A fossil discovered in 1985 but stored away for decades has finally been identified as Antarctica's first ever dinosaur bone. The find proves that giant long-necked dinosaurs once roamed the now-frozen continent when it was covered in lush forests.
Scientists in Thailand discovered a 27-metre sauropod nicknamed "the last titan" that roamed the region before rising seas transformed the landscape forever. The remarkably complete skeleton gives researchers their best window yet into Southeast Asia's prehistoric giants.
Scientists in South Korea discovered the country's first new dinosaur species in 15 years and named it after Dooly, the nation's most beloved cartoon dinosaur. The turkey-sized baby fossil revealed hidden skull bones through special X-ray technology that could unlock dozens more discoveries.
Scientists in Korea discovered a new dinosaur species and named it after Dooly, the country's most famous cartoon dinosaur. Advanced X-ray technology revealed a complete baby fossil hidden inside solid rock.
A massive leg bone discovered in New Mexico belongs to a tyrannosaur that lived 74 million years ago and might be a direct ancestor of the famous T. rex. At nearly 5 tons, this ancient predator was bigger than any other tyrannosaur of its era.