Listen to what a forest in the Jurassic Period may have sounded like with this reconstructed soundscape, which was created by analyzing the fossilized wings of 165 million-year-old insects.

Unlike the roars in movies, dinosaurs likely cooed, rumbled, and boomed

Fossil evidence and CT scans suggest that many dinosaurs produced low-frequency sounds using resonating crests, closed-mouth vocalizations, or organs similar to those of birds and crocodiles. Larger sounds would not have been helpful for sneakily hunting prey.

Some dinosaurs evolved night vision and acute hearing for nocturnal hunting

Paleontologists analyzed the fossilized eye and ear structures of 16 theropods, finding that some had owl-like hearing and huge pupils. These characteristics are consistent with modern-day nocturnal species, including nightjars and geckos.

Listen to audio recordings of forests from around the world, featuring birds chirping, water flowing, and wind flowing through the trees.

How the cicada entered popular music

For significant swaths of the country, cicadas are a calming summer soundtrack. In the past few decades, though, the insects' distinct sound have also entered the music world, providing drone and ambience for a range of musicians.

Watch animations of the creation and excavation of dinosaur tracks

The discovery of a dinosaur trackway in the UK emerged from a controlled explosion that removed limestone from an Oxfordshire quarry. The footprints provide unique insights into dinosaur behavior and movement, with marine fossils suggesting a lagoon-like environment.

Listen to samples of 'sounds' produced in the sun's interior, created from the sonification of internal vibrations detected by the Parker Solar Probe.

Rare Jurassic-era insect found outside Arkansas Walmart

An entomologist on his way to buy milk sighted a giant lacewing, a rare insect not seen in the US for fifty years. The species has been present on earth for at least 160 million years, but has become incredibly rare in North America.

Listen to recordings of different fish species

Scientists have captured and curated this collection of species-specific recordings, helping us gain a deeper understanding of underwater ecosystems. Uncover their sounds, which include a lot of thumps, burps, and grunts.

Without dinosaurs, plants could produce fleshy fruits with bigger seeds

Previously disturbed by massive herbivores, denser and darker forests shifted plant evolution, reaching the greatest diversity of seed sizes, fruit sizes, and fruit types about 50 million years ago.

Billion-year-old Arctic fossils suggest Earth had fungi far earlier than previously thought

Named Ourasphaira giraldae, this new species of fungus, reported in 2019, was found in the Grassy Bay Formation in the Canadian Arctic. It pushed the fossil record of fungi back by about half a billion years since the oldest previously recognized fungi fossils came from the Rhynie chert, a Scottish site that dates back roughly 400 million years. This fungal discovery also suggests that fungi may have occurred on land much earlier than plants, raising questions about what ancient fungi used for nourishment.

NASA satellite data and sound recordings used to assess rainforest health

This two-minute video describes the work of scientists who are analyzing the impact of repeated forest fires in the Amazon by recording the unique sounds in degraded forests. The team is using acoustic sensors to record sounds of wildlife in the...

The booming fossil industry on the Jurassic Coast

Ever since the Jurassic Coast was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001, professional and amateur fossil-finders have increasingly set out for its craggly cliffs to discover ammonites, icthyosaurs, and even new discoveries. This photo essay takes a human look at the growing interest and industry in fossil discoveries along the famed 95-mile strip of England.

Metamorphosis evolved over millions of years as species that hatched as smaller versions of adults started exhibiting genetic mutations that differentiated juvenile and adult bodies.

Mammals thrived under the feet of dinosaurs

An explosion of fossil finds reveals that ancient mammals evolved a wide variety of adaptations allowing them to exploit the skies, rivers and underground lairs.

There are lots of weird ideas about dinosaur extinction, like hungry, hungry caterpillars

One of the great historical puzzles is this: why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Whether an asteroid, poison plants, volcanos and climate change, or something else, it's still a mystery. Scientists have been debating this question for almost a hundred years. One insect scholar suggests that caterpillars are the culprits.

What Stonehenge sounded like

Researchers built the first scale model of the world's best-known prehistoric stone circle, Stonehenge, to study its acoustic properties. Built approximately 5,000 years ago, the landmark in southern England has puzzled historians for centuries, but...

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid larger than Mount Everest struck Earth off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and wiped out at least 75% of all species, including nearly all dinosaurs.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Birds are living dinosaurs that evolved from feathered theropods

Traits associated with birds, including feathers, laying eggs, and hollow bones, were first present in dinosaurs and carried through to their descendants. Fossils of these dinosaurs have been found in a sleeping posture, resembling roosting behavior.

Read the academic article explaining how ancient smells can be dissected and recreated

This paper explores how biomolecular data on past scents can be teased out and then transformed into olfactory museum experiences, adding another component to our understanding of archaeology.

Soar above the Jurassic Coast’s 185 million years of geology

This sweeping drone video reveals the stark beauty of the UK’s Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile stretch where Triassic red rock, Jurassic layers, and Cretaceous limestone are exposed—one of the clearest visible records of the Mesozoic era on Earth.

Scientists can suck animal DNA from the air

A look at how researchers filtered the air around two zoos and identified genetic material from dozens of species, a technique that could help track and conserve wildlife.

Variations in beak shape helped birds survive the dinosaur extinction event

The asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago killed some avian dinosaurs. The smaller species endured by reproducing more quickly and adapting to the environment. Their different beaks allowed them to eat more varied foods for survival.

Listen to the earliest known recording of a whale song

A recording of a humpback whale was taken by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution near Bermuda in 1949, but forgotten for decades. When first captured, researchers didn't know what animal they were hearing, and therefore didn't catalogue the recording. The well-preserved audio was found by the team's archivist in 2025.

Synchrotron radiation has revealed the fur color of creatures millions of years old

When electrons are accelerated in the loop, they produce intense X-rays that can reveal properties of a sample struck by them, just as X-rays can be used to show bone structure in humans. Studying the reflected light from fossils can uncover the presence of known pigmentation compounds.

Dinosaurs suffered from cancer, arthritis, and infections seen in modern animals

Using CT scans and advanced pathology techniques, paleopathologists have identified respiratory illnesses, malignant osteosarcoma, and other diseases in dinosaurs. The research has helped show how many of these ailments are not exclusively modern phenomena.

Fossils suggest tardigrades developed cryptobiosis more than 180 million years ago

As of 2024, three tardigrade fossils have been discovered, all preserved in amber. Analysis suggests different species of the organism existed over 500 million years ago, when marine heterotardigrades and freshwater terrestrial eutardigrades diverged. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Browse the prehistoric salad bar with these ancient plants

In this video, Benjamin Burger, associate professor of geology at Utah State University's Uintah Basin Campus talks about the different types of plants present during the Mesozoic Era. Professor Burger explores how these plants changed over time, served as food sources for the dinosaurs, and co-evolved with them during this period.

Some animals possess sensitive hearing to help pinpoint prey and map the world

Bats and dolphins produce sound to reflect off surfaces and create a mental image of their surroundings. Owls' faces are dish-shaped to help funnel sounds to their ears, including that of mice moving along leaves or snow. Pinnipeds, such as seals and walruses, hear in both air and water.

Why scientists are making robot insects

Insects have much to teach us about flying, jumping, moving quickly, and more. So, roboticists are studying how insects do the ridiculous things they do, like walk on water or jump fifty times their body height, to inform their design and engineering of a new slate of robots: tiny ones. Learn the future of this type of robot with this fascinating video with insights into both insects and robots.

Dinosaurs’ feathers and greater metabolism helped them survive polar conditions

Studies of dinosaur footprints alongside ice-deposited rock fragments indicate that early dinosaurs adapted to cold weather before the volcanic winters of the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. These geological events helped dinosaurs to flourish by wiping out their amphibious competitors.

An Aztec skull whistle discovered in the 1990s was mistaken for a toy

In the late 1990s, archaeologists unearthed a sacrificed man clutching two skull-shaped clay whistles at a Mexico City temple to the wind god Ehecatl (eh-HEH-kahtl). Initially dismissed as toys, the instruments produce a scream-like sound that modern brain scans show triggers fear and urgency responses in listeners. This podcast explores the discovery.

Tornadoes produce inaudible signals to humans hours before forming

Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found that tornado-producing storms generate specific sounds below the range of human hearing, much like the infrasonic signals produced by earthquakes and avalanches. Although difficult to distinguish from wind noise, scientists hope to build systems that use these signals to improve tornado forecasting.

Dinosaurs emerged 245 million years ago when Earth’s continents were still conjoined

Once the supercontinent split apart, dinosaurs evolved into thousands of species as they adapted to their changing environments. All non-avian dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago following an asteroid impact, while avian dinosaurs evolved into today’s birds.

Visual deep dive into the collapse of insects

The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble, with recent research suggesting insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate. Explore this visual interactive on the issue from Reuters Graphics.

Colombia’s biodiversity performs the national anthem

Scientists and composers in Colombia trekked more than 600 miles collecting audio from the country's vast assortment of creatures. Using parabolic microphones, recorders, cameras and field gear, they recorded the sounds of birds, whales, landscapes, and more to eventually recreate their Colombia’s national anthem using its biodiversity as an orchestra. Follow the fascinating journey and listen to the “natural anthem” in the article.

Biosphere 2 revealed limitations in maintaining wildlife in unfamiliar environments

Trees appeared to become weak and more prone to breaking because a lack of wind caused them to no longer need to develop stress wood. The extinction of pollinators—potentially due to an explosion in the population of longhorn crazy ants—was also unexpected.