Iowa does have a state bird (Eastern Goldfinch) and a state flower (wild rose), but it is one of seven states not to have a state fossil, despite the state’s rich fossil history. The University of ...

Researchers have discovered geometric, hollow, ball-like structures in 80-million-year-old fossils of bizarre marine animals. Palaeobiologists Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill and Aaron Hunter identified the ...

The Crinoidea, a class of marine echinoderms, have long captivated palaeontologists as one of the most enduring and diverse components of the marine fossil record. Their evolutionary history spans ...

The pebbles are prettier on the other side of Lake Michigan. Even amateur beachcombers know that the Dunes-area shoreline of Indiana and Michigan yields better rocks than Chicago’s gravelly man-made ...

Most fossils, while intellectually exciting, are not all that pretty to look at.One notable exception are crinoids. Also known as sea lilies, their flowerlike appearance can be stunning. Crinoids are ...

Nature abounds with examples of evolutionary arms races. Certain marine snails, for example, evolved thick shells and spines to avoid be eaten, but crabs and fish foiled the snails by developing shell ...

Not to belittle sharks—they have their own week, after all—but the most voracious eaters in the oceans may not even have a spine. Sea urchins are omnivores and, when they dine on kelp, they can ...