Patrick Pester

An armored "worm" from the Cambrian called Wufengella bengtsoni is the ancestor to three major animal groups that have totally different lifestyles today, a new study finds.

"Alien goldfish" from the Carboniferous had toothy tongue-like structures that resembled those in living mollusks, a new study finds.

A "donut" of mesmerizing cell-forming microtubules is among the top entries of Nikon's 2022 Small World in Motion Competition.

South American mummies were likely brutally murdered 1,000 years ago, and the evidence is still preserved today, a new study finds.

The earliest known mammal was a shrewlike animal that emerged in the Triassic period with the first dinosaurs, a controversial new study claims.

The remains of an extinct lion-size otter have been discovered in Ethiopia, and it's the biggest otter on record, a new study finds.

Giant viruses infect tiny algae in a rare epishelf lake in the Arctic Ocean that's one of the last of its kind.

A giant mosasaur species called Thalassotitan atrox had teeth like a killer whale and ruled the oceans around Morocco towards the end of the Cretaceous period.

Long-tailed macaques in Indonesia use stones to masturbate, according to a new study that furthers researchers' understanding of the monkey "sex toy" hypothesis.

A Saccorhytus species that's been described as an "angry Minion" and a "wrinkly ball sack" isn't a human ancestor, according to a new study.

Almost all sea turtle hatchlings are emerging from their eggs as females on some Florida beaches. What's going on?

Scientists have identified a woodlouse relative — a 10-inch-long, creamy yellow critter called Bathynomus yucatanensis from deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cavers have successfully navigated Australia's deepest cave and named it the "Delta Variant" after COVID-19.

The Cartwheel Galaxy shines in never-before-seen detail in the latest James Webb Space Telescope composite image, revealing a violent past.

A strange shark caught off Belize in the Caribbean was likely a Greenland shark or Greenland shark hybrid, according to a new study.

The longest-living animals can survive for centuries and millennia, even pausing the aging process altogether. Here are the longest-living animals in the world.

Archaeologists raced to investigate an ancient Bronze Age city in Iraq after it re-emerged from a reservoir following an extreme drought.

In a behind-the-scenes look at 'Prehistoric Planet,' see how the creators went to extraordinary lengths to make the dinosaur series feel like an authentic nature documentary.

A terrifying climate change prophecy appears to be upon us, with bomb-like cyclones and searing droughts. But is the weather actually getting worse?