For more than a century, fossils meant bones, shells and the occasional imprint of a leaf. Now, a wave of research is showing that the most revealing relics of ancient organisms are not their shapes ...

Smithsonian researcher Ingrid Romero studies fossil pollen to reconstruct ancient climates and predict future changes Erin Wunderlich Researcher Ingrid Romero holds a case full of pollen slides at the ...

Caroline Lynn Kamerlin receives funding from the NASA Exobiology program. Liam Longo receives funding from the NASA Exobiology program. The questions of how humankind came to be, and whether we are ...

Paleobiologist Scott Lakeram analyzes 300-million-year-old coal ball fossils to reveal prehistoric plant-insect interactions frozen in time Emma Saaty Over 20 ancient plant species are represented in ...

A microscope image shows the surface of a Kapur Paya fossil leaf. Tiny pores called stomata and the outer skin cells of the leaf are visible, which helps scientists compare it to living trees. Credit ...