In the ’90s cartoon “Pinky and the Brain,” the titular Brain — a scheming lab mouse with an outsize noggin — fantasized about taking over the world. A study published Thursday in Science posits that ...

Rodents may have a rule of thumbnails. Many rodents have curved claws that help the animals climb or dig. But most also have flat nails on their thumbs, researchers report in the Sept. 4 Science. This ...

A newly discovered fossil from Mongolia reshapes how scientists understand early mammal evolution and ancient species ...

Mammals, including humans, stand out with their distinctively upright posture, a key trait that fueled their spectacular evolutionary success. Yet, the earliest known ancestors of modern mammals more ...

The humble rodent “thumb” may not seem like an obvious window into evolution, but its keratinized tip – the unguis (hoof, claw, or nail) – turns out to reveal striking insights into rodent history and ...

The discovery of new cynodont fossils from southern Brazil by a team of palaeontologists has led to a significant breakthrough in understanding the evolution of mammals. These fossils, belonging to ...

Foot bones that are separate in small hopping rodents are fused in their larger cousins, and a team of researchers at the University of Michigan and University of California, San Diego wanted to know ...

The legions of squirrels breaking into backyard bird feeders benefit from a surprising trait developed over millions of years—tiny hands with four claws and a human-looking thumbnail. This combination ...

Foot bones that are separate in small hopping rodents are fused in their larger cousins, and a team of researchers wanted to know why. Foot bones that are separate in small hopping rodents are fused ...