HS-LS4-1
Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
- 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.
- Fossils
Here’s why ammolite gems have a rainbow shimmer
The fossils’ fabulous colors arise from delicate assemblies of crystal plates.
- Life
Scientists Say: Taxonomy
This field of study does more than just organize living things. It also reflects the history of life's evolution.
- Fossils
Newfound fossil is not a teen T. rex but a whole new species
Now known as Nanotyrannus, this mini dino could have roamed the late Cretaceous alongside T. rex.
- Humans
Smoke-dried mummies found in Southeast Asia are the oldest known
The corpses had been slow-dried over fires 12,000 years ago — millennia before Egyptians began mummifying their dead.
- Archaeology
Knotted strands of 500-year-old hair tell a surprising story
Used in a device called a khipu, the hair reveals the owner’s simple diet. Those data now suggest that in Incan society, even some commoners kept records.
- Plants
Potatoes and tomatoes share a surprising history
Today’s potato likely came from a chance cross between an ancient tomato and a spud-less potato-plant lookalike, research shows.
- Archaeology
This may be the oldest, most complete Neandertal fingerprint ever seen
The print appears in a red ochre dot, which a Neandertal left on the ‘nose’ of a facelike rock roughly 43,000 years ago.
- Humans
A real-life vampire probably couldn’t survive on blood alone
Vampires often have human bodies. To survive on blood, they’d need to shed millions of years of evolution.
- Fossils
New clues about dino speed come from birds strutting through mud
Fossilized footprints can help calculate how fast dinosaurs moved. But tests with guinea fowl show that past estimates might not be right.
- Life
Fungi have been ‘zombifying’ insects for 99 million years
Two bits of ancient amber sitting in a lab basement hold evidence of a fungus that’s become famous for controlling the minds of its victims.
- Fossils
North American rhinos once gathered in large, hippo-like herds
The stumpy-legged rhinos survived until about 12 million years ago, when a supervolcano’s ashfall smothered their world.
