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.
MS-LS4-2
Apply scientific ideas to construct an explanation for the anatomical similarities and differences among modern organisms and between modern and fossil organisms to infer evolutionary relationships.
More Stories in MS-LS4-2
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Science & Society
A century later, impacts of the Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ still echo
The case fostered a major distrust of experts in parts of U.S. society, especially those challenging the Bible’s account that humans never evolved.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Elusive worm-lizards sport weird, spooky skulls
CT scans of these mysterious creatures turned up bizarre internal features. They could offer clues about amphisbaenians’ largely unknown behavior.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Megalodon
The extinct megalodon (Otodus megalodon) was the largest shark to ever prowl the oceans.
