MS-LS4-1

Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

  1. Fossils

    An ancient hippo-sized reptile may have been a speedy beast

    An Anteosaurus was a hefty reptile with a large snout. Its fossil skull hints that it may have moved fast for its time.

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  2. Animals

    Giant worms may have hidden beneath the ancient seafloor to ambush prey

    Twenty-million-year-old tunnels unearthed in Taiwan may have been home to creatures similar to today’s monstrous bobbit worms.

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  3. Archaeology

    This prehistoric woman from Peru hunted big game

    Women in the Americas speared large prey as early as 9,000 years ago, new archaeological evidence suggests.

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  4. Animals

    Scientists Say: Evolution

    Evolution is how species change over time. Individuals in the group vary, and some will pass on their genes. Over time, the whole species changes.

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  5. Animals

    Attack of the inner-cannibal mega-shark

    The outsized megalodon was a fierce terror that chewed its way across the oceans. It learned to kill even before it was born.

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  6. Genetics

    Some Neandertal genes may up the risk of severe COVID-19

    Most of the affected people descend from communities in South Asia or live in Europe today.

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  7. Animals

    Let’s learn about bones

    Bones hold us up and help us fight gravity with every step. They also make blood cells, hormones and more.

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  8. Animals

    See what these animal mummies are keeping under wraps

    A new method of 3-D scanning mummified animals reveals life and death details of a snake, a bird and a cat that lived in ancient Egypt.

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  9. Animals

    American crocs seem to descend from kin that crossed the Atlantic

    A fossil hints that early crocodiles crossed over from Africa, millions of years ago, to colonize a new land.

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  10. Archaeology

    Let’s learn about early humans

    Homo sapiens are the last member left of our genus. But many other species of early humans existed before us.

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  11. Chemistry

    Early dinosaurs may have laid soft-shelled eggs

    Scientists for the first time have turned up evidence of fossils from soft-shelled dinosaur eggs. This has scientists rethinking how dinosaur eggs evolved.

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  12. Fossils

    These crocodile ancestors lived a two-legged life

    A set of 106-million year old footprints show a crocodile relative appears to have walked on two legs.

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