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Science

Essays and videos exploring physics, evolution, cosmology and other frontiers in science
The Rift | Aeon
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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

A dinosaur is a story | Aeon
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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

This riotous life | Aeon
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Palaeontology

This riotous life

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

Riley Black

Investigating Homo floresiensis and the myth of the ebu gogo | Aeon
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Palaeontology

Investigating Homo floresiensis and the myth of the ebu gogo

Paige Madison

Seven million years of human evolution | Aeon
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Human evolution

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

6 minutes

Our short-sighted inner fish | Aeon
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video

Human evolution

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

4 minutes

The shape of life | Aeon
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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

What a fossil revolution reveals about the history of ‘big data’ | Aeon
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History of science

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

David Sepkoski

The missing fossils matter as much as the ones we have found | Aeon
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History of science

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

Adrian Currie & Derek Turner

What say you, dinosaur? | Aeon
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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

Anthropology is far from licking the problem of fossil ages | Aeon
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Human evolution

Anthropology is far from licking the problem of fossil ages

Paige Madison

The deadliest tooth | Aeon
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video

Evolution

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

5 minutes

A tyrannosaur of one’s own | Aeon
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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

Origins | Aeon
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Palaeontology

Origins

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

Jacob Mikanowski

Once and future cats | Aeon
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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