Maddie MolloyClimate and science reporter
OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
A Megalosaurus print found at an Oxfordshire quarry
From gigantic dinosaur footprints frozen in stone to a spectacular parade of planets, science in 2025 delivered moments of real awe.
We revisited turning points in human history, from the earliest evidence of fire-making to fresh insights into how humans form lasting bonds.
The natural world continued to surprise us too. Wild chimpanzees were filmed using plants as medicine, while Moon dust described by scientists as rarer than gold arrived in the UK for study.
Gigantic Jurassic footprints discovered in Oxfordshire
PA Media
These footprints were made 166 million years ago as a dinosaur walked across a lagoon
A quarry in Oxfordshire revealed one of the world’s largest-ever dinosaur trackway sites, with around 200 enormous footprints left behind 166 million years ago.
The tracks capture the movements of two very different dinosaurs: a long-necked sauropod thought to be a Cetiosaurus and the two-legged carnivore Megalosaurus.
Some of the trackways stretch for up to 150m, and researchers believe they could extend even further, as only part of the quarry has been excavated.
Humans mastered flames 400,000 years ago
Jodi Lai/BBC
Creating fire at will was one of the main drivers of a virtuous and accelerating evolutionary cycle
At an archaeological site in Barnham, Suffolk, researchers uncovered remarkable evidence of t
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