Techniques developed to study the distant past—from dating ancient artifacts to reconstructing climate records in ice ...

How smushed shells could help to resolve paleontological mysteries. By Asher Elbein You never know where a bit of unusual scientific research is going to lead. Consider a 2012 study about turtle ...

A sea turtle's shell is a masterpiece. A study reveals that marine turtle shells combine flexibility and strength to protect against predators like sharks and stress while optimizing movement. This ...

Cartoons often suggest turtles wear shells like removable armor. Those stories show turtles stepping out, swapping shells, or treating them like clothing. Biology disagrees. A turtle shell is not an ...

Unique among Earth’s creatures, turtles are the only animals to form a shell on the outside of their bodies through a fusion of modified ribs, vertebrae and shoulder girdle bones. The turtle shell is ...