Imagine there are ten different types of shells, each the size of a grain of sand, mixed in the bowl of mud in front of you. You want to find each type of individual shell —what do you do? For ...

The brilliant iridescent hues found in ammolite come from tiny air gaps in the fossils’ layers, a new study finds. By Alexa Robles-Gil Millions of years ago, squid-like creatures called ammonites swam ...

A collection of fossil shells from marine snails and clams is challenging a theory that says the world’s deadliest mass extinction was accompanied by severe ocean acidification. Instead of showing ...

Gareth Dyke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Barry Norbeck donated thousands of documented fossil shells to the Calvert Marine Museum on Jan. 9, 2026, enhancing its Miocene collection with material from now-inaccessible sites along Calvert ...

How smushed shells could help to resolve paleontological mysteries. By Asher Elbein You never know where a bit of unusual scientific research is going to lead. Consider a 2012 study about turtle ...

A new study has unexpectedly discovered that a common parasite of modern oysters actually started infecting bivalves hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs went extinct. The research, ...

CONSIDER the floating fortress that is a sea turtle. It seems to fly gracefully through the water even though it is encased in heavy armour. This combination of poise and protection evolved like any ...