HS-LS4-1
Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence.
- 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.
- Animals
Dinosaurs are still alive. Today, we call them birds
Birds don’t look like the scaly giants of Jurassic World. But fossils are revealing how these modern-day dinosaurs descended from ancient reptiles.
- Animals
Horned lizards and snakes tend to ambush their prey
The reptiles’ horns could help or hinder during foraging, depending on how they hunt. This might be why horns evolved in some species and not others.
- Life
Scientists Say: Ichnology
This field of science looks to understand life — past and present — by studying how organisms altered their surroundings.
- Animals
Let’s learn about why turkeys are dinosaurs
Modern birds are the only dinosaurs that survived an apocalyptic extinction event 66 million years ago.
- Humans
Scientists Say: Prehistoric
Researchers rely on prehistoric tools and other artifacts to study the vast stretches of time before recorded history.
- Math
Bees and wasps devised the same clever math trick to build nests
During nest building, these insects add five- and seven-sided cells in pairs. This helps their colony fit together hexagonal cells of different sizes.
- Oceans
How would a mermaid sound underwater?
Human ears don’t work well in the water. A mermaid would need marine creature features to talk to and understand her aquatic friends.
- Fossils
This bizarre ancient predator snagged soft prey
Scientists are rethinking how this extinct creature used the spiky limbs sticking out of its face to hunt.
- Fossils
T. rex may have hidden its teeth behind lips
Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus have long been portrayed with their big teeth bared. But new research suggests this wasn’t so.
- Fossils
Ancient jellyfish? Upside down this one looks like something else
A new look at an ancient sea animal called Essexella suggests it may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, not a floating jelly.
- Animals
A love of small mammals drives this scientist
Alexis Mychajliw’s science is driven by her love of animals. She now looks to tar pits and fossilized poop to understand ancient ecosystems.
