These fossil finds shed new light on the past in 2025

Everything old is new again: These paleontological discoveries of 2025 — from tiny dinosaurs to zombifying fungi — opened up brand-new insights into the distant past.

Nanotyrannus grows up A famous fossil known as Dueling Dinosaurs depicts this small tyrannosaur, now identified as an adult Nanotyrannus lancensis. Analyses of its snout (shown) reveal several ways in which the creature is markedly different from T. rex, including nerve patterns, sinus structures and extra teeth.N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

Nanotyrannus came into its own in 2025. The diminutive dinosaur may have resembled Tyrannosaurus rex, but it wasn’t just a teenage version of the iconic dino, scientists reported in two separate studies. The finds

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