Will Newton
Science writer
Will Newton is a freelance science writer with a passion for all things prehistoric, from dinosaurs to Ice Age humans. He is also a PhD student at the University of Manchester, where he studies 400-million-year-old, armoured fish known as Ostracoderms. He has written for both BBC Wildlife and BBC Science Focus, as well as several other popular publications. When he's not writing about ancient animals, he can be found with his elbows deep in one of the many fish tanks currently overtaking his home office."
Recent articles by Will Newton
It’s a slimy, brainless creature that stalks prey, navigates mazes and creates elaborate transport networks more efficient than our own
These tiny microorganisms come together to create large, multicellular networks capable of navigating mazes and re-routing transport networks…
"Raiding parties are the soldiers, bearing enormous heads armed with long, scissor-like mandibles capable of dismantling prey piece by piece..."
This is definitely an army that marches on its stomach...
100km-wide "hidden giant" discovered beneath Antarctic ice sheet
A vast granite body roughly half the size of Wales has been found beneath the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica…
Scientists uncover 'lost world’ beneath North Sea – once home to beavers, deer and even bears
A new study has found evidence to suggest the now-submerged landmass of Doggerland in Europe was covered in a temperate mosaic of oak, elm, and hazel more than 16,000 years ago…
“This bizarre egg-laying animal looks like a cross between a duck and a beaver” – 10 prehistoric ‘living fossil’ animals still alive today
eet the ‘living fossils’ that look just like their ancient ancestors and give us an idea of what life on Earth may have been like millions of years ago…
436-million-year-old fossil found in South China is oldest complete bony fish ever discovered
The discovery of two ancient fish in South China has re-written what we thought we knew about the evolution of early vertebrates.
It’s the size of a small apartment, contains hundreds of rooms growing crops, and is home to more than a million farmers
We’re not the only animals that farm; ants do it too, cultivating vast quantities of fungus to feed their growing colonies…
It's a metre across and laced with tunnels and chambers – yet built entirely from a million individuals who spend their lives constantly on the move...
Few species of ants are more well-drilled than army ants; these disciplined drones live and die at the behest of their female leaders…
‘Inflatable’ feet, walking on water and making a living raft: 10 unusual (and downright bizarre) ways animal move around
These animals like to ‘move it move it’, though not quite in the conventional sense…
Dinosaur hunters discover staggering 'hell heron' with giant head crest in Sahara Desert
The new species of ‘scimitar-crested’ Spinosaurus is the first of its kind found in more than a century.
It floats, it's larger than a dinner plate and it's made up of more than 100,000 individuals
If you saw this circular raft floating down a river you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a discarded deep-dish pizza…
This prehistoric apex predator is older than trees, the Atlantic Ocean and even the North Star. A biologist explains why
Are sharks really older than trees? Yes – and a whole lot more, explains Will Newton
It existed 800 years ago, was home to 100,000 people – and was powered by poop
New research suggests that seabird guano may have been one of the main driving forces behind the rise of Peru's Chincha Kingdom.
10 terrifying prehistoric mega-beasts that ruled before the dinosaurs – from a car-sized millipede to an armoured fish whose bite could crush steel
Meet the bizarre prehistoric animals that once ruled the world millions of years ago - and they're not dinosaurs
It’s 1,500m long, wide and high enough to drive a van through, and its ceiling is covered in animal scratches - but what humongous creature made them?
The world’s largest palaeoburrow is located in the Amazon Rainforest and is so long it’d take you roughly 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other…
443-million-year-old eel-like animal discovered near Glasgow stuns scientists
A team of scientists from the University of Manchester have uncovered some of the earliest evidence of advanced, camera-like eyes in two jawless fish found just south of the Scottish city…
In the 1990s, scientists dug up a 500,000-year-old tool in England. They just figured out what it is
The discovery of a prehistoric hammer made from elephant bone in southern England is rewriting what we thought we knew about our ancient ancestors…
From dinosaur-eaters and ferocious ocean predators to giant serpents as long as buses here are the 10 deadliest prehistoric snakes
Meet the snakes that once slithered underneath dinosaurs, swam the world’s oceans and terrified our ancestors…
Why 7 mummified cheetahs found in a Saudi Arabian cave have got scientists so excited
Today, the Arabian Peninsula has no wild cheetahs, but the mummified bodies found near the city of Arar offer hope for the reintroduction of the cats, say researchers.
Ice Age wolf pulled from Siberian permafrost. Scientists are amazed at what they found in its stomach
The answer to how the woolly rhinoceros became extinct may have just been found in the stomach of one of its fiercest predators…
Exploding comet may have wiped out mammoths and other enormous Ice Age mammals
Did mammoths, sabre-tooth tigers and other Ice Age megafauna face a similar, impact-induced fate to the dinosaurs? That’s what new evidence may be starting to suggest…
"Imagine an elephant that stood no taller than your waist and was covered in a coat of fuzzy hair - cute, right?" Meet 10 cutest prehistoric animals ever
Not all animals from prehistory were monsters, some would even have made great pets…
50 years ago, an enormous animal 'cemetery' was found in Qatar's desert. Experts just figured out what happened
The bonebed contains the 21-million-year-old remains of sea cows, sharks, barracuda-like fish, prehistoric dolphins and sea turtles.
Bones of giant anacondas found in Venezuela. Here's what scientists discovered when they pieced them together
A new study has revealed South America’s wetlands have been home to 5.2m-long anacondas for more than 12 million years…
