Trilobites are famous not just because they were so beautifully functional, or because they happened to preserve so well. They're known the world over because they were everywhere!

The origin story of turtles is a mystery that has perplexed many for centuries, but thanks to more recent studies, we might be one step closer to figuring out their lineage.

We tend to think of fossils as dinosaur bones or petrified wood, but what if we told you that there's a lot we can learn from fossilized waste?

Today, penguins are found mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. But fossils have revealed giant lookalikes to these swimming birds further up north, spurring questions of how they evolved and what happened to them.

Insects were the first animals to ever develop the ability to fly, and, arguably, they did it the best. But this development was so unusual that scientists are still working on, and arguing about, how and when insect wings first came about.

Camels are famous for adaptations that have allowed them to flourish where most other large mammals would perish. But their story begins over 40 million years ago in North America, and in an environment you'd never expect: a rainforest.

The story of sloths is one of astounding ecological variability, with some foraging in the seas, others living underground, and others still hiding from predators in towering cliffs. So why are their only living relatives in the trees?

"When it comes to extinct creatures like dinosaurs, it can be tough to know for sure what they actually ate. And we’d like to know because what an animal eats tells you a lot about it. But every now and then, the fossil record gives us a...

For more than 10 million years, Megalodon was at the top of its game as the oceans' apex predator...until 2.6 million years ago, when it went extinct. So, what happened to the largest shark in history?

Humanity has changed a lot since the days of our ancestral species, and we have continued evolution to look forward to as well.

Imagine an enormous, lush rainforest teeming with life...in the Arctic. Well there was a time -- and not too long ago -- when the world warmed more than any human has ever seen. (So far)

Exactly when and where did life on Earth begin? Scientists have long thought that it emerged three billion years ago in the ocean -- until astrobiologist Tara Djokic and her team made an unexpected discovery in the western Australian...

No planet’s trip around a star is exactly like the one before it, because solar systems aren't as static as they first appear. Even small nudges can add up to disaster, but some objects find safe orbits with the help of a partner or two.

We've all heard the theories on why the dinosaurs died -- but how did they come to dominate the earth for so long in the first place? (Hint: it has nothing to do with their size, speed, spikes or fantastic feathers.) Travel back in time...

Even though less than 1% of Earth's water is freshwater, it's the home for 50% of fish species. This is the Freshwater Paradox.

If you trace your way back along the tree of life, eventually you'd come face-to-face with the very first animal. But what exactly would that animal have looked like?

Take a close look at some of the strangest-looking animals evolution has created.

Biologist Mark Pagel shares an intriguing theory about why humans evolved our complex system of language. He suggests that language is a piece of "social technology" that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool:...

Hank brings you the facts, as they are understood by scientists today, about the evolution of humans from our humble primate ancestors. On the way to becoming Homo sapiens, game-changing evolutionary breakthroughs led to the development...

There are animals in the fossil record that challenge some of our most basic ideas about what animals are supposed to look like. If there ever was a monster on this planet that was worthy of the name, it might have been the Tully Monster.

The Great Dying hit life hard, but the species that survived took over the planet and diversified into many interesting forms, including the dinosaurs!

Natural history is full of living things that were long thought to have gone extinct only to show up again, alive and well. Paleontologists have a word for these kinds of organisms: They call them Lazarus taxa.

Find out about the last time and the next time the Earth will be hit by a Gamma-ray Burst.

Paul Andersen details the evolutionary processes of speciation and extinction. Stickleback evolution in Lake Loberg is used as example of rapid speciation. Adaptive radiation is illustrated using the Hawaiian honeycreeper. A brief...