HS-LS4-1
Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
- 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.
- Genetics
DNA confirmed a Pueblo tribe’s ties to Chaco Canyon
DNA supports Picuris Pueblo stories of their ancestry going back more than 1,000 years — to the famous Chaco Canyon site.
- Archaeology
Roman gladiators really fought big cats, ancient bite marks suggest
This is the first skeletal evidence of an ancient Roman gladiator show — or execution — involving an exotic animal.
- Animals
Some iguanas may have rafted across the Pacific 30 million years ago
The iguanas' epic 8,000-kilometer trip — one-fifth of Earth’s circumference — may be the longest made by a flightless land vertebrate.
- Humans
Wiggling ears may have once helped boost human hearing
Ancient ear muscles may not help us hear today. They can, however, offer one readout of how hard someone is trying to listen.
- Animals
Can this ‘woolly mouse’ help bring back extinct mammoths?
Scientists created mice with woolly mammoth–like traits. But that doesn’t mean we’re close to bringing back woolly mammoths.
