Fossil dung reveals clues to dinosaur success story
In an international collaboration, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to identify undigested food remains, plants and prey in the fossilised faeces of dinosaurs. These analyses of hundreds of samples provide clues about the role dinosaurs played in the ecosystem around 200 million years ago. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.

Chinese-Swedish partnerships study fossils in Uppsala
This autumn, the Museum of Evolution in Uppsala has received a visit from several Chinese researchers. While there, they have been exploring the unique collection of fossils that came to Uppsala from China a hundred years ago. Scholarly collaboration between Chinese and Swedish researchers is still alive today.

Zoonomia – the evolution of mammals
In the international Zoonomia project, researchers have sequenced the genomes of 240 different mammalian species. They are trying to understand why mammals are so different and how they have adapted to various environments.
Survivors of the largest mass extinction in history
252 million years ago, the Earth suffered the largest mass extinction ever recorded. An estimated 90 percent of all species perished, leaving room for the dinosaurs to take over. New fossil discoveries on Svalbard show that marine reptiles, or ichthyosaurs, ruled the waters earlier than previously known and survived the mass extinction as a group.
Ancient DNA revealed
Today, we can find out how people who lived thousands of years ago lived, moved around and how old they became. All thanks to advanced DNA technology. Join us in the Ancient DNA Lab, the laboratory that sheds light on ancient remains.
Teeth from the Peking Man
One of the 20th century’s great palaeontological discoveries was the fossils of the Peking Man, Homo erectus, in deposits some 500,000 years old in caves in Zhoukoudian near Beijing. The very first samples of this prehistoric man, two teeth, were found in the 1920s by Otto Zdansky from Uppsala University and can now be found at the Museum of Evolution in Uppsala together with a third tooth discovered in the 1950s among the fossils sent to Sweden. The discovery of the Peking Man became a world sensation.

Stone Age strategy for avoiding inbreeding
Blood relations and kinship were not all-important for the way hunter-gatherer communities lived during the Stone Age in Western Europe. A new genetic study, conducted at several well-known French Stone Age burial sites, shows that several distinct families lived together. This was probably a deliberate system for avoiding inbreeding.

Polar sea reptile fossil oldest found in Southern Hemisphere
An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere – a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand’s South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa.

Exploring the deep history of humans in Africa
Between 2000 and 12,000 years ago, the Earth's population grew rapidly. The climate became warmer and people began to farm the land and develop new technologies. Carina Schlebusch uses genetics to study human history and wants to understand how the genome adapted to these changes.

Find out more
Museum of Evolution
The Museum of Evolution is a classic natural history museum for animal lovers and dinosaur fans of all ages. The museum's collections have been built up by researchers at Uppsala University since the 17th century and today hold more than 5 million objects. The museum's collections are regularly used by researchers at Uppsala University and other research institutions around the world.

Research
Research on evolution takes place across the University. Researchers use advanced technologies, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and interdisciplinary approaches to provide new answers to complex questions.
More themes
Curious about more research that can expand your perspectives? Do you want to know how our brain works, learn how you can contribute to the green transition, or explore the state of democracy in the world?
