Articles for category: Fossils & Fieldwork

A skeleton of a dinosaur in the dark

Top 5 Prehistoric Features That Confused Scientists

Picture this: you’re a paleontologist, carefully brushing dust off what appears to be a fossilized bone, when suddenly you realize what you’re looking at doesn’t match anything in the textbooks. Your heart races as you wonder if you’ve discovered something that could rewrite evolutionary history. This scenario has played out countless times throughout scientific history, ...

a museum display of various types of dinosaurs

Understanding Dinosaur Evolution: The Big Picture

Imagine walking through a world where colossal beasts roamed freely, their thunderous footsteps echoing across ancient landscapes. Picture creatures so magnificent and diverse that they would make today’s wildlife look like a quiet neighborhood gathering. This isn’t science fiction—this was Earth for over 165 million years, when dinosaurs ruled supreme. But here’s what most people ...

What Types of Fossils You're Most Likely to Find

5 Fossils That Helped Scientists Reconstruct Earth’s Calendar

Imagine holding a piece of ancient coral in your hands, knowing that this seemingly ordinary fossil holds the key to understanding how our planet moved through space millions of years ago. Scientists have discovered that certain fossils don’t just tell us about extinct creatures – they’re actually Earth’s ancient timekeepers, recording the rhythm of days, ...

How Bones Break Down in Air vs. Water: A Survival Timeline

How Bones Break Down in Air vs. Water: A Survival Timeline

Picture this: you’re hiking through an ancient forest when you stumble upon a weathered skull half-buried in the soil. Meanwhile, scuba divers regularly discover pristine skeletal remains in shipwrecks that have been underwater for centuries. What’s going on here? The answer lies in one of nature’s most fascinating processes – how our bones decompose differently ...