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
"47 metres long – the longest animal ever recorded." 10 bizarre animals that look like they came from an alien world
There are so many strange creatures on Earth that you needn’t look to outer space to discover ‘aliens’...
This skeleton was found in China in 2004. Scientist finally know what it is
Scientists identify 237-million-year-old armoured amphibian found in China's Guizhou Province.
“It carved a crater twice the size of Rhode Island and as deep as the Grand Canyon." This 35-million-year-old asteroid impact wrecked the United States
It created a crater three times larger than any other US crater and the sixth largest known on Earth…
"They measured 3.18 metres and weighed a whopping 209kg and belonged to the 'Kilimanjaro Bull’"
An elephant’s tusks aren’t like a rhino’s horn, they can’t just grow back…
“It stood 3m tall and was armed with some of the deadliest weaponry of any prehistoric animal.” 10 biggest prehistoric birds that ever lived
Most birds could fit in the palm of your hand, but these feathered goliaths are on a very different scale - you’d be lucky not to be crushed beneath their feet…
It was the size of a dog – and had a trunk. What was this prehistoric beast?
Discover the tiny but mighty, elephants that lived thousands of years ago
Did an eruption of poop trigger the biggest explosion of life and diversity Earth has ever seen?
540 million years ago, animals exploded onto the scene, evolving into many weird, wacky, and wonderful forms…
“It lived in the deep sea, had two mouths, and a prehensile penis projecting from its forehead.” 10 prehistoric freaks of nature
There have been times evolution has got carried away and created creatures that look more alien than animal…
700,000-year-old elephant tooth found with stone axes on the banks of Israel's River Jordan. Here's why the discovery is so huge
It turns out scientists don’t need a time machine to explore prehistoric environments – a 700,000-year-old elephant tooth is more than enough.
The world's deadliest-ever eagles, including a 18kg mighty, powerful raptor that terrified New Zealanders until its extinction in the 15th century
For a time, humans may have been on the menu for giant, killer eagles that soared over New Zealand, Australia, and Africa.
From New York to Mexico City, some of Earth's biggest cities are sinking, say scientists
A growing number of cities are sinking due to land subsidence, putting people and wildlife at risk, according to a new study.
10 giant animals that started out tiny – including an elephant the size of a house cat and a rhino no bigger than a pet dog
From miniature to massive, evolution has supersized these animals and made them some of the largest of their kind to ever exist…
"They used their deadly, 12 inch teeth – as sharp as steak knives – to slash open their prey’s necks or tear open their bellies"
After T.rex, there are few prehistoric predators more infamous than sabre-toothed cats…
“'Gus' sold for an eye-watering $50.1 million - that's more than a luxury penthouse on Billionaires' Row in New York…" 10 most expensive fossils ever sold
If you have enough money, you really can display an almost complete, 67-million-year-old T.rex in your living room…
"With the head of a horse, the body of a gorilla, and the appetite of a giant panda, it really does look like a Frankenstein’s monster."
There were many strange mammals that lived during the Miocene, but few were stranger than Chalicotherium…
Is it a bear? Is it a dog? No, it’s something in between…
Long before modern bears and dogs took their familiar forms, strange predators known as bear dogs prowled prehistoric landscapes
Longer than two school buses put together – and ruler of the oceans for 20 million years: 7 biggest prehistoric sharks ever to terrorise Earth's oceans
You might think today’s sharks are big, but during prehistory there were species that grew more than twice as large…
It floats, it's bigger 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…
Scientists put tiny greenhouses over Antarctica’s only two flowering plants and left them there for 7 years. Here's why
A warming climate is forcing Antarctica’s native plants to adapt. Not only have they risen to the challenge, they’ve adapted in two different ways, according to a new study.
Manhattan-sized iceberg breaks free in Greenland. What caused the event has never been seen before
The Petermann Ice Shelf in northern Greenland just experienced its largest calving event since 2020 – here's what caused it.
Bizarre four-winged dinosaur discovered in China
This tiny, magpie-sized dinosaur adds further evidence to the theory that flight-related features evolved independently in several different groups, not just birds.
35 million years ago, a massive 7km-wide asteroid smashed into Earth – turning graphite into diamonds was just one of its incredible effects
The impact left a 100km-wide crater in Siberia and was so powerful it transformed graphite into diamonds – but that was just one of its astonishing effects.
There are green birds, reptiles and fish – so why are there no green mammals? The strange reason almost all mammals are brown
The colour green is quite common among animals, but it's nonexistent in mammals…
The first ever penis appeared 425 million years ago – and it wasn't small. So why did evolution make some animals’ so ridiculously large?
Its body might have been no bigger than a grain of rice, but the owner of the oldest-known penis was remarkably well-endowed…
