EvolutionJune 9, 2015
75-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Soft Tissue Suggests Ancient Organic Preservation May Be Common
Researchers have found what appear to be collagen fibers and blood cells in unremarkable-looking fossils
Stories by Kate Wong
Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social
EvolutionMay 20, 2015
Archaeologists Take Wrong Turn, Find World's Oldest Stone Tools [Update]
Archaeologists working in the Kenyan Rift Valley have discovered the oldest known stone tools in the world. Dated to around 3.3 million years ago, the implements are some 700,000 years older than stone tools from Ethiopia that previously held this distinction.
EvolutionMay 1, 2015
Meet the New Tyrannosaurs [Video]
Recent fossil discoveries fill in long-standing holes in Tyrannosaurus rex’s family tree
EvolutionMarch 12, 2015
Neandertals Turned Eagle Talons into Jewelry 130,000 Years Ago
As longtime readers may have noticed, I have an abiding interest in Neandertals. To help me keep up with the latest scientific insights into these mysterious relatives of ours, I have a Google alert set for "Neandertal" (and the alternate spelling, "Neanderthal").
EvolutionFebruary 1, 2015
The Neandertal Mystique
Our heavy-browed cousin remains the most fascinating member of the human family
EvolutionFebruary 1, 2015
Secrets of Neandertal Cognition Revealed
Analyses of anatomy, DNA and cultural remains have yielded tantalizing insights into the inner lives of our mysterious extinct cousins
BiologyJanuary 1, 2015
More Wondrous Images from the 2014 Bioscapes Competition
Microscopes find beauty in strange places--from a fossil fern to fruit fly sperm
The SciencesJanuary 1, 2015
Stunning Images from the 2014 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition [Slideshow]
Microscopes find beauty in the most unexpected places
EvolutionDecember 10, 2014
Tiny Fossil Is North America's Oldest (and Cutest) Horned Dinosaur
A tiny skull from southern Montana represents a new kind of horned dinosaur that had a distinctive hooked beak and was about the size of a crow.
EvolutionDecember 3, 2014
World's Oldest Engraving Upends Theory of Homo sapiens Uniqueness
It is getting harder and harder to figure out what distinguished Homo sapiens from other members of the human family and fueled our extraordinary success as a species.
EvolutionDecember 1, 2014
These Amazing Spiders Look Remarkably Like Ants [Slide Show]
Ant-mimicking spiders are the ultimate imposters
EvolutionDecember 1, 2014
Stunning Artwork Opens New Window on Mighty Maya Civilization
Long-sought clues to Maya governance emerge from an exquisitely preserved frieze
EvolutionNovember 24, 2014
40 Years After Lucy: The Fossil That Revolutionized the Search for Human Origins
Forty years ago today, a young American paleoanthropologist named Donald Johanson made the discovery of a lifetime in the arid badlands of Ethiopia's remote Afar region: a 3.2-million-year-old skeleton of a small-brained creature that walked upright like we do.
EvolutionNovember 11, 2014
Mind-Blowing Fossil Preserves Tiny Horse Carrying Unborn Foal
BERLIN: The former oil shale mining site of Messel, near Frankfurt, Germany, is well known for its spectacular fossils of organisms that lived between 47 million and 48 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch.
EvolutionNovember 1, 2014
Human or Hobbit?
The arguments over an ancient skeleton just won’t die
EvolutionOctober 8, 2014
Ancient Indonesian Cave Paintings Force Rethink of Art's Origin
Archaeologists have determined that artwork found in limestone caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is far older than previously thought.
The SciencesOctober 1, 2014
Coffee Crisis Spurs Hunt for Helpful Genes [Slide Show]
With cultivated coffee in decline, researchers are turning to wild plants for help
EvolutionSeptember 3, 2014
Ancient Engraving Strengthens Case for Sophisticated Neandertals
One of the longest-running, most fervent debates in the history of human evolution research concerns the cognitive abilities of the Neandertals.
EvolutionSeptember 1, 2014
The New Science of Human Origins
Awash in fresh insights, scientists have had to revise virtually every chapter of the human story
EvolutionSeptember 1, 2014
The Most Incredible Human Evolution Discoveries of the New Millennium
New fossil and archaeological finds, along with insights from genetics, are upending the story of our origins
EvolutionSeptember 1, 2014
Tiny Genetic Differences between Humans and Other Primates Pervade the Genome
Genome comparisons reveal the DNA that distinguishes Homo sapiens from its kin
EvolutionAugust 27, 2014
Archaeologists Assess Killing Power of Stone Age Weapons
Half a million years ago in South Africa early human ancestors shaped lumps of rock into lethal points and then attached them to wooden shafts, producing the earliest known stone-tipped spears.
Mind & BrainJuly 25, 2014
Lucy Film Hinges on Brain Capacity Myth
On July 25, French film writer/director Luc Besson's action thriller Lucy opens in theaters nationwide. The premise is that the title character, played by Scarlett Johansson, is exposed to a drug that unlocks her mind, giving her superhuman powers of cognition.
The SciencesJuly 1, 2014
Archaeologists Edge Closer to Solving the Mysteries of Teotihuacán
After decades of investigation, fresh clues are emerging from Mexico’s City of Gods