Life
Scientists Say: Theropod
This group of dinosaurs once included Tyrannosaurus rex. Today, they include birds.
HS-LS4-1
Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
More Stories in HS-LS4-1
- Humans
Scientists Say: Midden
One ancient person’s, or animal’s, trash may become an archeologist’s treasure.
- Animals
The dawn of animal evolution saw a bizarre array of sea creatures
Newfound fossils turned up a strange zoo of often-complex creatures, including some suggesting that evolution of left-right symmetry occurred earlier than once though.
- Life
Some of these Smithsonian secrets might just blow your mind
Millions of treasures stashed in this museum storage site — open only to select visitors — tell the history of Earth's inhabitants.
- Archaeology
These 12,000-year-old Native American dice are the oldest in the world
A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
- Life
Looking for LUCA, everyone’s shared ancestor
You and all other living things descended from a single organism — our great-grand-germ. Scientists are studying modern genes to learn more about this very distant ancestor.
- Animals
Mummies suggest a way to help reintroduce cheetahs to Arabia
DNA from Arabian cheetah remains reveals that these now-extinct populations might be replaced by rewilding close cheetah relatives from northwest Africa.
- Archaeology
Neandertals used fire-making tools 400,000 years ago
Flint, iron pyrite and fire residues found at an ancient site in England offer the earliest clear evidence of people lighting fires.
- Fossils
Let’s learn about Tyrannosaurus rex
These fearsome predators truly were enormous — with the bone-crushing bite power to match.
- Animals
RNA from mummified woolly mammoth is the oldest ever recovered
Genetic details from the animal, named Yuka, give a snapshot into its last moments alive. The mammoth had been preserved in permafrost for 40,000 years.
