🔬 New dinosaur science

Modern scanning machines let scientists peek inside a fossil without breaking it open. By making detailed pictures of the inside of a skull, they can study the shape of a dinosaur's brain and its senses. Cutting thin slices of bone under a microscope even reveals growth rings, showing how fast the animal grew.

Scientists work out dinosaur speeds without ever seeing one move. They measure fossil footprints, because the gap between steps hints at how fast the animal was going. They also use the size and shape of the legs, plus computer models, to estimate whether a dinosaur sprinted, jogged or merely plodded.

Bringing dinosaurs back like in the movies is not possible, at least not for real dinosaurs. To copy an animal you need its DNA, but DNA slowly falls apart and none can survive the tens of millions of years since dinosaurs died. Scientists study their fossils and their living bird relatives instead.

Yes, and more often than ever before. Fossil hunters around the world find new kinds of dinosaurs almost every week, often on average close to one a week. Each new discovery adds another piece to the picture, and there are surely many more still buried, waiting to be found.