PaleontologyMarch 18, 2025
The Horned and Armored Dinosaurs Were the Gladiators of the Mesozoic
Studies of the horns, spikes, plates and clubs of dinosaurs could help settle a long-standing debate over their function
Stories by Michael B. Habib
Michael B. Habib is a paleontologist and biomechanist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles. He studies the anatomy and motion of pterosaurs, birds and feathered dinosaurs.
AnimalsApril 16, 2024
Why Feathers Are One of Evolution’s Cleverest Inventions
Fossil and living birds reveal the dazzling biology of feathers
EvolutionJanuary 1, 2022
Fossils Reveal When Animals Started Making Noise
For billions of years Earth was quiet. Then life got loud
CultureApril 1, 2021
How to Make a Hippogriff Fly and Other Flights of Fancy
A paleontologist and an illustrator team up to make mythical creatures follow biomechanical rules
EvolutionOctober 1, 2019
Pterosaurs Were Monsters of the Mesozoic Skies
Fossils and mathematical modeling are helping to answer long-standing questions about these bizarre animals
EvolutionMay 1, 2017
Bizarre, Giant Birds Once Ruled the Skies
Fossils of enormous extinct seabirds are now illuminating how such behemoths took wing
EvolutionApril 1, 2016
Bizarre, Giant Birds Once Ruled the Skies
Fossils of enormous extinct seabirds are now illuminating how such behemoths took wing