An artist’s reconstruction of the locomotor behavior and paleoenvironment of Lufengpithecus. This extinct primate lived in East Asia during the Miocene. “It would have been about the size of a ...

The coiled channels deep within the ears of fossilized and modern animals reveals that mammals became warm-blooded 233 million years ago. By Kate Baggaley Published Jul 20, 2022 11:09 AM EDT Get the ...

Hot or not? Peeking inside an animal’s ear — even a fossilized one — may tell you whether it was warm- or cold-blooded. Using a novel method that analyzes the size and shape of the inner ear canals, ...

The inner ear, a complex sensory apparatus incorporating the cochlea, semicircular canals, and otolithic organs, is pivotal for auditory perception and balance. Recent multidisciplinary research has ...

For the first two weeks of life, mice with a hereditary form of deafness have nearly normal neural activity in the auditory system, according to a new study. Previous studies indicate that this early ...

The inner ear may not seem like a particularly bony place, but human ears in fact have three small bones (also known as ossicles): the malleus, the incus and the stapes. While most people would assume ...

A new study of a 7–8-million-year-old extinct fossil ape from China called Lufengpithecus offers new insights into the evolution of human bipedalism. The study, published in The Innovation, was ...

The first warm-blooded animals appeared abruptly 233 million years ago, according to clues hidden deep inside their ears. Before now, scientists estimated that warm-bloodedness, or endothermy, ...

Two major groups of bats that use echolocation have different structures for connecting the inner ear to the brain, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago, the American ...

Warm-bloodedness is a key mammal trait, but it's been a mystery when our ancestors evolved it. A new study points to an unlikely source for telling a fossil animal's body temperature: the size of tiny ...

Earwax, medically known as cerumen, is a substance naturally produced by glands in the ear canal. It serves critical functions: Trapping dust, dirt, bacteria, bugs (really!) and other foreign ...