The vertebrate ear is a remarkable structure. Tightly encapsulated within the densest bone of the skeleton, it comprises the smallest elements of the vertebrate skeleton (auditory ossicles) and gives ...

The Mesozoic era, traditionally renowned as the age of dinosaurs, also marks a period of remarkable innovation in the evolution of early mammals. Mammaliaforms diversified into a variety of ecological ...

Otosclerosis is one of many hearing disorders found only in humans, affecting the otic capsule. It occurs when the joints between the ossicles in the middle ear become hardened with age. The formation ...

After syphilis had destroyed the hearing of the late great Composer Ludwig van Beethoven, that melancholy genius discovered that by clenching a stick in his teeth, holding it against the keyboard of ...

The three smallest bones in the human body are the middle ear ossicles—the malleus, incus, and stapes—more commonly known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. "The hammer is arranged so that one end is ...