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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
Medieval manuscript illustration of a dragon with a red head, green and blue wings, and a snake-like tail, standing on a hill. The dragon is bordered by a decorative green frame with circular patterns and a blue border with white rings. The background features golden leaf motifs.

video

Animals and humans

Why be dragons? How massive, reptilian beasts entered our collective imagination

58 minutes

Illustration of a prehistoric forest with various dinosaurs, including herbivores, a pterosaur flying, and a small carnivorous mammal-like creature.

essay

Palaeontology

The dinosaurs didn’t rule

When we think of changes in Earth’s history as changes of dynasty we miss out on understanding how life really works

Riley Black

A vast, green valley with rolling hills under a partly cloudy sky, featuring a prominent ridge extending into the distance.

essay

Deep time

The Rift

Splitting the African continent, it is the only place where our human story can be read continuously from the very start

Tristan McConnell

Long-necked and long-tailed dinosaur, Diplodocus, shown in profile view with a faded green and grey coloration.

essay

Palaeontology

A dinosaur is a story

As Brontosaurus tells us, in science as in fiction, the stories we tell to understand the world are always being revised

Nathaniel Goldberg & Chris Gavaler

A large, headless dinosaur sculpture next to a dustbin, with a shipping container in the background.

essay

Palaeontology

This riotous life

There’s no rhythm to mass extinctions, no pattern to evolutionary recovery. Life bursts forth, in cacophonous adaptation

Riley Black

A lifelike sculpture of an early human with long dark hair, prominent eyes and a serious expression in a museum display.

idea

Palaeontology

Investigating Homo floresiensis and the myth of the ebu gogo

Paige Madison

Graphic showing the timeline and regions of early human species in Africa, including images of Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, and Paranthropus boisei.

video

Human evolution

Last hominin standing – charting our rise and the fall of our closest relatives

6 minutes

Cartoon of a green character with a serious expression in a forest area with a pond. The background appears painted.

video

Human evolution

Why did our sea-dwelling ancestors leap to land? It might have been the view

4 minutes

essay

Earth science and climate

The shape of life

The ancient Earth was profoundly alien. How do we distinguish between the living and non-living in the fossil record?

Sophia Roosth

idea

History of science

What a fossil revolution reveals about the history of ‘big data’

David Sepkoski

idea

History of science

The missing fossils matter as much as the ones we have found

Adrian Currie & Derek Turner

essay

Palaeontology

What say you, dinosaur?

Did Neanderthals speak? Did dinosaurs roar? And when did birds begin to sing? The soundscape of deep time is coming back

Alex Riley

idea

Human evolution

Anthropology is far from licking the problem of fossil ages

Paige Madison

video

Evolution

Great for killing, and for research: the lethal fangs of saber-toothed cats

5 minutes

essay

Deep time

A tyrannosaur of one’s own

Dinosaur collecting isn’t just for museums any more – film stars and sheikhs do it too. What drives a man to covet big bones?

Laurie Gwen Shapiro

essay

Palaeontology

Origins

Paleogenetics is helping to solve the great mystery of prehistory: how did humans spread out over the earth?

Jacob Mikanowski

Illustration of a roaring lioness with two blue-grey birds flying nearby against a white background.

essay

Biology

Once and future cats

Sabercats were magnificent, powerful predators – what does their extinction tell us about the future of life on Earth?

Riley Black