Science Daily

• Plant believed extinct for 60 years suddenly reappears

  A random photo snapped in the Australian outback has led to the rediscovery of a plant thought extinct for nearly 60 years — proving that ordinary people with smartphones are quietly transforming science. After bird bander Aaron Bean uploaded pictures of a strange shrub to iNaturalist, botanist Anthony Bean immediately recognized it as Ptilotus senarius, a rare species missing since 1967.

• Scientists think they’ve cracked the mystery of human right-handedness

  A new study suggests humans became overwhelmingly right-handed because of two major evolutionary shifts: walking on two legs and developing much larger brains. Researchers found that as human ancestors evolved, their right-hand preference steadily intensified — transforming a mild tendency into one of humanity’s most distinctive traits.

• Stunning fossil discovery in Ethiopia rewrites human origins

  A stunning fossil discovery in Ethiopia shows that early Homo and a previously unknown Australopithecus species lived together around 2.6 to 2.8 million years ago. The find overturns the classic “ape-to-human” progression and paints human evolution as a crowded, branching tree with multiple species coexisting. Scientists dated the fossils using volcanic ash deposits and are now investigating what these ancient relatives ate and whether they competed for resources.

• Ancient lost ocean may have built Central Asia’s dinosaur-era mountains

  Scientists have uncovered evidence that the vanished Tethys Ocean may have sculpted Central Asia’s mountainous landscape during the dinosaur era. Using decades of geological data, researchers found that distant tectonic activity linked to the ancient ocean appears to match periods of rapid mountain formation. Surprisingly, climate and mantle processes played only a minor role. The discovery could reshape how scientists understand mountain building across the planet.

• Stunning 150-million-year-old stegosaur skull rewrites dinosaur evolution

  A spectacular dinosaur discovery in Spain is giving scientists a rare new look inside the world of stegosaurs. Paleontologists uncovered the best-preserved stegosaur skull ever found in Europe, belonging to the iconic plated dinosaur Dacentrurus armatus, which roamed Earth around 150 million years ago. Because stegosaur skulls are extremely fragile and almost never survive intact, the fossil is helping researchers uncover previously unknown details about how these armored giants evolved.