Science news

Looking fit is no guarantee of health for one of the world’s most plastic polluted birds.

A voyage to the Pacific has been investigating previously unexplored regions of the deep sea.

Understanding one of the largest groups of plants in the world could help tackle world hunger.

A rather uninspiring specimen in the Natural History Museum’s collection has an extraordinary tale to tell.

Finding out exactly when feathers evolved, and which animals had them, could offer important new insights into the distant past.

Samples from the asteroid Bennu contain some of the ingredients needed for life to develop.

The remains of the earliest dinosaurs could lie beneath the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert.

Over 15,000 mounds are scattered across Mars’ lowlands – but until recently, no one knew how they got there.

Conch snails make death-defying leaps to evade deadly predators.

A previously unknown rock type at the new Mars rover landing site is revealing more about the red planet.

Spinosaurs, tyrannosaurs and relatives of Velociraptor once stalked England’s south coast.

Threordatoth chasmatos was one of the last survivors of a once-widespread group of lizard-like animals.

Researchers are probing what it means to be a separate species.

The whale-sized shastasaurids went extinct over 200 million years ago.

Buried alongside this individual were a range of symbolic objects.

The 350 elephants died because of a toxic algal bloom exacerbated by climate change.

This is the first mainland European bird declared extinct in 500 years.

A breakthrough fossil discovery is changing what we know about some of the largest mammals to ever walk the Earth.

A remarkable fossil could transform our understanding of how the intelligence of modern birds evolved.

Rising temperatures are pushing many species to the brink, alongside disease, pollution and unsustainable fishing.

The story of how animals first set foot out of the water and onto land just became more complex.

Even the world’s most successful wild animal isn’t safe from rising temperatures.

An evolutionary ‘air race’ may have been taking place in forests during the age of dinosaurs.

Arthropleura's head reveals that millipedes and centipedes are closely related.

Every species extinction is bad, but the impacts are worse when we consider the ecosystem functions that are also lost.

A new species of moth has been discovered 7,000 kilometres from home.

Some seabirds might have a ‘sixth sense’ at the end of their beak, new research reveals.

Researchers have proposed changing the common name of the flesh-footed shearwater.

Food security and biodiversity are threatened by the chemicals contaminating our soils.

Some of Earth’s most successful herbivores may have had hundreds of thousands of teeth in their lifetime.

Humans are having a devastating effect on biodiversity, but the impacts might be worse than we thought.

Despite their fame, astonishingly little is known about these large, flightless birds.

The social skinks are helping scientists answer fundamental questions about evolution.

Tiny teeth are revealing the roots of the modern mammal lifestyle.

Ferganoceratodus edwardsi suggests that many ancient lungfish are more closely related than first thought.

Plant infections can now be detected in our crops before they’re even visible.

Genetically removing the prickles from crops could have huge benefits for agriculture.

We’ve been underestimating the importance of partially logged forests.

A three-dimensional preserved fossil larva has been found to contain traces of internal organs.

The North Sea’s oil and gas rigs impact more than the atmosphere.

A molar found in sand from south London could shed light on the last days of an ancient mammal.

Scientists are studying microbial structures in extreme environments to learn more about early life.

Comptonatus chasei is the newest member of the Iguanodon family.

Some of the best three-dimensionally preserved fossil trilobites have been revealed from Morocco.

Only 1,000 Bornean elephants are thought to be left in the wild.

The iconic marine molluscs might be alive today had Earth not been struck by a meteorite.

Scientists are trying to unravel the mysteries of an extinction event that occured in North America at the end of the Jurassic.

The newly described Myloplus sauron highlights how little we know about South America’s biodiversity.

By sequencing airborne eDNA, a new project hopes to find out more about the UK’s wildlife.

A vast colony of breeding seabirds experienced “unprecedented” mortality.

Musankwa sanyatiensis is just the fourth dinosaur species ever found from Zimbabwe.

Dandelions, buttercups and brambles might help to answer some of the biggest questions in botany.

Seal diversity is just a snapshot of the species that used to exist. 

An ancient worm may have dragged itself along the sea floor, consuming whatever prey it could find.

The first animal communities could have impacted on how complex life evolved over 550 million years ago.

Making our gardens earthworm friendly could help urban spaces become more resilient.

Every year thousands of elephants are still killed for their ivory.

The lesser flamingo is in danger of losing its feeding and breeding grounds.

Since 2020, millions of birds have been struck down by avian influenza, but Oceania remains virus free.

It proposes an entirely new group of birds that connects the smallest flying birds to the largest.

An international team of scientists have spent the last few weeks finding out what is living 4,000 metres beneath the surface.

The spectacled cormorant went extinct almost 200 years ago – but almost nothing is known about its life.

Some of the world’s largest and most unusual fishes could be wiped out.

Giving communities a greater say over mining could help to speed up the transition to net zero.

They might not have legs, but snakes are outpacing their relatives in the race to evolve.

Named in honour of two dedicated conservationists, the discovery of the spiders could help to protect at-risk forests on St Helena.

A new study has allowed scientists to see how populations of fish differ through their DNA.

Discovered in Scotland, Ceoptera evansae has been named as a new species of pterosaur. 

Seaweeds play a vital role in the modern world, but their existence is under threat.

A jawbone fragment overlooked for more than 100 years was once part of a nine-metre-long ancient whale.

It’s said that you are what you eat – and that’s certainly true of toothed whales.

Seabirds in the Pacific Ocean are eating plastic and feeding it to their chicks.

Going back to basics could help to unlock the mysteries of our origins.

A school science experiment is answering questions that are out of this world.

The oldest disease-causing fungus on record has been found in the Natural History Museum’s collection.

Welcome to the next era of natural history collections. 

Almost half of marine mammals around the UK are being poisoned by banned chemicals.

Specimens of the hitchhiking insect have been sitting undescribed in the Museum’s collections since 1886.

Variations in the skull shape of vultures have been found to coincide with the preferred method each species uses to feed on a carcass.

Crocodiles have a deep and varied evolutionary past.

Katydids have been using ultrasounds for millions of years to try and avoid predators hearing them.

The species has only been found once on the side of the inactive volcano. 

The dramatic decline in biodiversity is the result of agricultural change, pollution and habitat loss.

A question that has puzzled scientists for over 150 years may finally have been answered.

Putting Martian meteorites in a nuclear reactor has confirmed their curiously young age.

The Natural History Museum’s collections are helping scientists to get a handle on how evolution works.

More surprising is that the vast majority of herpetology records are unsexed.

Your dog could have its day as part of a new scientific study.

Seaweeds are vital for the health of our planet, but we are unaware of just how threatened they might be.

The tropical crops may face an uncertain future amid rising temperatures and habitat loss.

Investing in natural history collections could offer new scientific and economic opportunities.

Amphibians are the most threatened group of vertebrates in the world.

Human bones with cutmarks, breaks and human chewing marks are found across northern Europe. 

Researchers are hot on the trail of Morocco’s missing dinosaurs.

OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth with a record-breaking amount of material from an asteroid dating back to the birth of our solar system.

Though the Portland plesiosaur made headlines in the 1960s, it has never been formally described.

New research on the 450-million-year-old Eriptychius suggests it could be a ‘missing link’ in the evolution of the vertebrate skull.

A species of bacteria that lived 407 million years ago would have flourished among early land plants.

Only four confirmed specimens are known to science.

A marine predator living over 500 million years ago might bridge the gap between insects and their ancient relatives.

The group may have evolved tens of millions of years later than originally thought.

Bivalves have been touted as a food of the future – but wild populations might not last that long.

Elephants and their relatives evolved in a previously unappreciated way.

Melting polar ice caps may have pushed some of the first ancient humans out of Europe.

The discovery of a new parasitoid wasp could help to save an Endangered Pacific butterfly.

NASA’s Perseverance rover may have discovered organic molecules on the surface of Mars.

One of the UK’s most famous meteorites is helping scientists learn more about asteroids millions of kilometres away.

The pattern of diversity in the deep sea is more complex than first thought.

A 500-million-year-old murder mystery has been solved.

The remains of the armoured dinosaur were discovered on the Isle of Wight.

An ichthyosaur fossil found in Svalbard is finally revealing its secrets 15 years after it was discovered.

The bivalves appear to have been left behind in history’s biggest ever burst of evolution.

Many regions of the deep sea are currently being explored for the potential to mine them.

Mammal evolution has been flipped on its head, according to new research that suggests marsupials are the more evolved mammals.

Urban soundtracks allow us to listen in to wildlife, from calling birds and shouting foxes to chirping insects and quiet worms.

Exceptionally well-preserved fossils from the Cambrian period have helped fill a gap in our understanding of the origin and evolution of major animal groups alive today.

An unprecedented look at potato genetics could help to tackle world hunger.

While there are currently only two members of the genus Saurona, many more as-yet-undescribed species are thought to exist.

Scientists have developed an ambitious new tool which monitors the monthly changes in Wikipedia pageviews for thousands of species.

A new technique allows researchers to extract the DNA of people who have handled bone artefacts, giving clues about prehistoric cultures.

Digital reconstructions of broken fossils have revealed more about the life of an ancient crocodile-like predator.

Traces of ice algae have been found in many animal groups revealing the critical importance of algae and the sea ice on which it grows to the fragile Arctic ecosystem.

New research suggests that ichthyosaurs may have pre-dated the age of the dinosaurs after surviving Earth's largest mass extinction event.

Named after a Hindu god, it is hoped that resurrecting the species will focus conservation attention on at-risk habitats.

The isolated teeth were identified using machine learning models, and could represent some of the earliest relatives of birds ever discovered.

Whales started becoming big early in their evolution – and kept going for millions of years.

Amphibians the size of crocodiles once lurked along the shores of ancient South Africa.

The body mass of young shearwaters has deteriorated in just over a decade, with plastic consumption believed to be the most likely cause.

The specimens and objects held in museums around the world represent an astonishing resource. 

Almost a third of Mauritius' native fruits are no longer being dispersed as no animals are big enough to swallow their seeds.

The discovery was made three decades after the species was first uncovered as scientists try to understand more about how sauropods evolved in what is now eastern Asia.

A new disease has been described in seabirds, but it might just be the tip of the iceberg.

The underside of their tails have feathers that are whiter than any others ever measured.

Able to contract faster than a racing car, Spirostomum's abilities could one day be copied to develop faster machines.

The race is on to learn more about these fragile forests as human impacts threaten their survival.

A new study reveals that there are many ways these animals bore through solid rock, but a lack of habitat may lock them into an evolutionary dead end.

Fighting for mates may be a behaviour that dates back over 400 million years.

Katydids are the earliest known animals to evolve complex communication using sound.

Though it may have gone extinct over 600 years ago, understanding more about Astrochelys rogerbouri could help to save its living relatives. 

The skulls of early herbivores are helping scientists to understand how a diverse group of dinosaurs evolved different ways of eating plants.

Current turtle habitats are likely to become unsuitable, but new areas could become available.

An unexpected series of eruptions at Stromboli may be due to changes in the volcano's internal 'plumbing'.

Intensively used land isn't just harmful to biodiversity we can see – it's also harming the wildlife living under the ground.

A new species of extinct lizard has been described from the Museum's collections. 

Leeches, mites and plants found at the site are revealing the ecosystems ancient animals walked over 260 million years ago.

Data being collected from the surface of Mars are already providing a glut of information about Jezero crater.

The next rover to land on Mars could discover signs of a once mighty river ecosystem. 

The origins of a meteorite which lit up skies above the UK last year have been revealed.

Frog lenses develop differently depending on what environment they will live in as adults.

Fossils discovered in Sussex were compared to human remains found in Spain from a similar time period to see if the populations are linked.

Minute structures found in 3.48-billion-year-old Australian rocks are the oldest evidence of life on Earth.

A new study has looked at what is driving the biodiversity crisis. 

The question of how the Neanderthals died out remains one of the biggest mysteries in human evolution.

The study could help in predicting how species will respond to the rapidly changing environment.

The aye-aye is one of 12 primates that pick their nose - but we have no good reason why the behaviour evolved.

The most complete Jurassic fossil lizard ever found has been discovered in Scotland.

The sequencing of the oldest human DNA in the UK so far.

While their function remains uncertain, the sinuses provide an insight into how ancient human skulls changed over time.

A large part of the asteroid belt may have been formed out on the fringes of the Solar System.

The new Global Typology of Ecosystems provides an important step towards characterising the true diversity of life on Earth at its largest scale. 

Living over 200 million years ago, Scleromochlus helps to show how ancient reptiles took their first steps towards flight.

A fossil from China has filled in a major gap in the evolutionary tree for life on Earth.

In the midst of war, scientists have been working to protect historic artworks.

Researchers have caught a glimpse of the cosmos just two million years after the formation of the solar system.

Termites could reduce the amount of carbon stored in wood as the world gets hotter and drier. 

The people after which England is named made up more than three quarters of the nation's genetic ancestry during the early Middle Ages.

Investigating Mars' dry lakes could help scientists to discover how life began on Earth.

The dental record of a small animal has pushed back the origin of mammals by 20 million years. 

The description of an extinct lizard-like animal may help reveal why its kind were rapidly pushed to the edge of extinction.

Female wildebeest are engaged in an evolutionary arms race - but scientists aren't sure why.

The twelfth century skeletons have provided an unprecedented look at the genetic history of Ashkenazi Jews. 

As the world recovered from a volcanic extinction event, Lesothosaurus may have banded together to help ward off predators.

For the first time the records of ancient British birds have been formally incorporated into the British List.

Bumblebees are getting more stressed as the climate warms.

An insect last seen in 1869 has sung again, which could help give researchers clues about where the insect might still be living.

The protective equipment that kept us safe during from COVID-19 could pose a lethal threat to nature. 

The ability of dolphins and toothed whales to echolocate is shaped before they're even born.

Over 30 potential new species, from starfish to sea cucumbers, have been discovered living at the bottom of the sea.

The days of the most distinctive bird species could be numbered as the most unusual forms bear the brunt of global extinctions.  

Digitising Museum collection leads to rediscovering a moth collected by Richard Owen

As mammaliamorphs switched from being cold to warm blooded, new behaviours, habitats and ways of living became available to them.

Despite vast investment in climate change, much less attention is being paid to plastic pollution - and we need to fight both together. 

A Critically Endangered species of albatross may be in more danger than previously thought. 

The beetle usually lives on the warm Mediterranean coast.

Ryugu sample is one of the most pristine material from the solar system.

The largest meat-eating dinosaur ever found in Europe.

Plankton which help feed the ocean, lock away carbon dioxide and even influence the weather may not be as vulnerable to climate change as feared.

Another bird from the island of the dodo is in danger of becoming extinct, scientists have warned.

We now know how whales evolved from furry, four-legged critters to giants of the ocean.

Over half of all seabirds have been lost in the past 50 years, seeing less of the nutrients vital to life moved from sea to land.

It beats the previous record holder by tens of millions of years.

Some of the species, described for the first time, are smaller than a 1p coin.

Understanding how bats, which are one of nature's largest disease reservoirs, have changed over time can help scientists to identify new disease hotspots.

In response to a warming world, many species are physically changing their body sizes. 

The tropics have long been perceived as being a riot of colour.

It adds to the understanding of how these curious dinosaurs evolved and spread around the world.

Bashanosaurus primitivus adds to evidence the group of dinosaurs may have originated in Asia.

Understanding how frog eyes evolved can help explain how the diverse group came into being.

Even the most carnivorous lizard can bite no harder than herbivores of the same size, Museum researchers have found.

Ancient plants measuring just two centimetres long could show what the ancestor of vascular plants looked like.

Scientists believe there could be many as yet unknown fossils to be uncovered in the region.

Structures inspired by pollen could make electric car batteries cheaper and more efficient.

A new species of crocodile-like animal has been described from fossils unearthed in Tanzania. 

Modern humans arrived in western Europe about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The deep seafloor could be up to three times as diverse as the overlying waters, with much of this diversity yet to be discovered by science. 

A group of fossilised snails and clams are challenging suggestions that ocean acidification contributed to the largest extinction in history. 

The digitisation of these collections could be worth two billion pounds to the global economy.

The way a volcano is filled with boiling hot magma can help improve forecasts of how it will next erupt.

The genetic landscape of England and Wales was shaken up thousands of years ago as new arrivals redefined its people.

Ancient elephants that would have been born the size of a puppy lived for decades more than previously thought.

Neanderthals lived fast and died young, developing their teeth earlier than humans to power their rapid growth. 

The economic benefit of digitising an entire museum collection has been quantified for the first time.

Rocks with the potential to hold fossils of Martian life have been identified by NASA's Perseverance rover. 

The oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur discovered in the UK has been named in honour of trailblazing Museum scientist Angela Milner, who passed away in August 2021.

Lanternfish are one of the most abundant vertebrates on Earth. Yet despite their huge numbers, almost nothing is known about them.

The moth is famous for its enormous tongue - the longest of any insect.

Spicomellus afer is the oldest ankylosaur ever discovered. 

A series of ancient lake beds discovered in Saudi Arabia is showing how the now arid deserts were once green wetlands.

NASA's rover is attempting to collect first rock samples for Mars 2020 mission.

A new beautifully preserved fossil of a horseshoe crab has revealed that their brains have hardly changed since at least the Carboniferous Period.  

Elephant ancestors diversified widely thanks to climate change and new habitats.

Uncovering details about how the Carolina parakeet became extinct.

In recent years there has a growing shift to change the common English names of birds that are offensive or inaccurate.

A huge skull found in China represents a new sister lineage for Homo sapiens.

In a titanic effort spanning many years, a team of butterfly experts have listed the butterflies found in Colombia to date.

Over the past few hundreds of thousands of years Sicily was home to two different miniature elephants.

Billions of plastic particles accumulate on remote islands mostly via sea.

When modern humans arrived in the islands of southeast Asia, they may have encountered a range of ancient human species. 

They bring on average 688,000 pieces of plastic back onto land every single year.

The Mars 2020 rover landed near the Jezero Crater on 18 February 2021. 

It is shedding light on how the Columbian mammoth came to be. 

Tiny plastic fibres have been found in the stomachs of deep-sea fish living in a remote part of the South Atlantic Ocean.

Rather than a violent turnover of populations, there was a merging of communities.

It will cost us double to preserve nature unless we act now, Museum scientists have found.

Genetic and fossil records do not reveal a single point where modern humans originated, researchers have found. 

Ancient teeth could be evidence of a hybrid population of Neanderthals and modern humans. 

A breakthrough in domestic production could bring down the carbon footprint of lithium-ion batteries.

A meteorite from the birth of the solar system could tell us more about how life flourished on Earth.

New minerals from the UK are very rare. 

Many groups of dinosaurs were doing rather well right up until the end. 

The Popa langur lives on an extinct volcano in Myanmar.

The decline in native birds is threatening the existence of island biodiversity.

The world's biggest animals are nature's engineers.

The extinction risk to plants could be worse than previously thought, according to a landmark report.

Centuries of farming, building and industry have made the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe.

Animal populations have declined by 68% since 1970.

Bronze Age people were keeping human body parts and preserving them.

Prehistoric societies in the Britain were creating artistic designs on rock as long ago as the late Ice Age.

The skull shape of birds is just a tiny fraction of the diversity that would have been seen in their dinosaur ancestors.

The first taxonomically verified checklist of the plants of New Guinea is complete.

Where will the rover land, and will it find life on Mars?

New research on Turkana Boy is changing our understanding of the species Homo erectus.

The painting dates to at least 1,000 years ago.

Human waste was found 2,000 metres below the ocean surface.

Tracking the diversity of turtles could also give us clues as to how they might respond to increasing pressures in the future.

A satellite has revealed ancient Martian rivers in more detail than ever before.

Climate change is having a bigger impact on animals and plants in the ocean than those on land.

Discover how we're helping some of the most threatened animals on Earth.

Sequencing the wheat genome could help to protect food supplies in the future.

New species of the deep ocean floor are helping change how we think. 

New scans reveal how dinosaur teeth developed. 

Ancient fossils are revealing even more about this species' evolution.

Africa and Eurasia were inhabited by a whole range of hominin species just a few hundred thousand years ago.

This may alter the recreation of some non-avian dinosaurs. 

Straight-tusked elephants were among the largest land mammals ever to have existed.

Samples collected on the HMS Challenger are teaching us about climate change. 

Singapore is losing its butterflies as forests decline and building programmes boom.

We are gambling with the only world we have, say researchers.

As the crabs die, they release a signal attracting other crabs causing a gruesome chain reaction.  

The meteorite formed as our solar system was being born. 

Female specimens are under represented in collections.

Analysis of centipede venom reveals a huge difference between the groups.

Dugongs help fight climate change by protecting seagrass meadows.

A new species of stegosaurian dinosaur, Adratiklit boulahfa, has been described.

Wherever humans have gone, pigs have followed.

How did potatoes come to Europe and how did they adapt to a new environment?

Discover more about some iconic Neanderthal skulls.

What can we learn from scanning snakes?

Past global warming events took place 183 million years ago. 

To meet UK electric car targets for 2050, we would need just under twice the current annual world cobalt production. 

Both penguin and seal DNA could be identified from within sponges.

The introduction of farming across the world changed the course of human history.

It has the highest density of plastic in the world.

The Cambrian explosion is one of the most important intervals in the history of life.

The first specimen of Mylodon darwinii, a ground sloth found by Charles Darwin in 1832, is now available online.

The new amoeba species is the earliest of its kind ever discovered.

They include new dinosaurs, an ancient wombat and a giant shark.

Rats and pigeons are thriving, but unique species are disappearing.

It likely went extinct at around the same time as Neanderthals.

Small primates were sailing the high seas long before humans existed.

Whales had more cortisol in their bodies while the global whaling industry was at its peak.

It could help us to monitor mining impacts in the ocean.

A new study is helping to explain how evolution works.

The fish burrows underground and breaths through the lining of its mouth. 

Researchers have found evidence that suggests Mars once had an ancient ocean and a water cycle similar to Earth's. 

Researchers are delving into the origin of the aubergine by sequencing its DNA.

The presence of a subglacial lake could provide an environment for life

Researchers have discovered several new animal species living on the Pacific seafloor.

A new paper challenges the traditional idea that our species evolved from a single population in one region of Africa.

Remains of young people who were ritually sacrificed have been found from Bronze Age Mesopotamia.

Scientists have developed new adhesives inspired by some very sticky slugs.

The Museum is scanning its collection of whale specimens so that the data is easier to handle and accessible to researchers around the world.

For the first time, scientists have an image of what happens inside an ant's brain when it is infected with a parasitic worm.

A meteorite sample from the Museum collection is revealing more about how and when the crust of the Red Planet formed.

The DNA of thousands of animals, including endangered species, is being collected in a national network of freezers.

A deadly fungus has been devastating populations of amphibians all over the world - but no one knew where it began until now.

In the 1830s, Darwin made a series of discoveries in South America: the mysterious remains of extinct mammals.

This discovery will allow scientists to look at the effects of climate change on blue-green algae and their toxins in Antarctica. 

Researchers have been studying the magnetic fields of 4.6-billion-year-old meteorites.

It's the most diverse part of the ocean, but plenty of people have never heard of it.

Museum archaeologists have helped to uncover clues to the people who lived in North Africa 15,000 years ago. 

Plants appeared on Earth 100 million years earlier than scientists previously thought.

Ancient DNA reveals that the British population was all but wiped out and replaced roughly 4,400 years ago.

A newly-discovered fossil jawbone has revealed that Homo sapiens had already left Africa 180,000 years ago.

A new lunar meteorite has joined the Museum's collection. The sample, weighing 147 grammes, will help researchers' studies into the origin and early evolution of the Moon.

Martian volcanoes are the largest in the solar system, but how fast they grow has long stumped planetary geologists.

A study of aquatic snails that carry the parasitic disease schistosomiasis has identified infection hotspots around part of Africa's Lake Victoria that could be targeted to reduce infection.

Prof Chris Stringer comments on new research that has identified the earliest known fossils of our species, Homo sapiens.

African toads that give birth to live young evolved the strategy to cope with mountainous regions lacking suitable areas of water for tadpoles to develop in.

Scientists have proposed a significant reorganisation of the dinosaur family tree, with major implications for our understanding of dinosaur origins and evolution.

An X-ray film of a fly pupa undergoing metamorphosis has, for the first time, captured minute-by-minute details of the most dramatic part of the reorganisation process.

The Museum's Library and Archives has digitised its oldest book, Historia Naturalis, to mark the tenth anniversary of the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

The first major study into the genes that control vision in snakes has found that the reptiles match their vision to their lifestyles. 

New forensic methods have brought researchers a step closer to confirming the man behind an infamous scientific hoax.

A huge range of animals and plants benefit from living in protected areas across the globe, a study has revealed for the first time. 

The loss of species diversity has reached unsafe levels across 58% of the world's land.

New tests carried out on the Museum's Stegosaurus skull provide ground-breaking insights into the lifestyles of herbivorous dinosaurs

Genetic analysis involving Museum scientists reveals that an outbreak of the neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis in Corsica was caused by parasites introduced from West Africa.

Coral reefs could become a victim of their own success, according to Museum researcher Dr Ken Johnson.

Research on a Museum fossil helps explain why Neanderthal faces looked different to our own.

A Museum researcher's 'midge thermometer' innovation has helped explain why the Earth was plunged into a mini ice age almost 13,000 years ago.

Scientists found that smaller bee species with shorter flight seasons are especially at risk in human-dominated areas.

A special kind of opal that can trap microbes on Earth has been found in a Martian meteorite, suggesting a new target in the search for signs of life on Mars.

The Museum's 150-million-year-old Stegosaurus stenops would have weighed around 1,600kg in life, similar to the size of a small rhino.

Insects evolved at the same time as the earliest land plants around 480 million years ago and shaped Earth's early ecosystems.

Scientists studying the venom of bloodworms for the first time have discovered why it can cause severe allergic reactions similar to that of a bee sting.

Accurate dating of 40 sites across Europe shows that Neanderthals and humans overlapped by as much as 5,400 years.