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. Animals

    Picture This: Plesiosaurs swam like penguins

    A computer model suggests plesiosaurs — ancient marine reptiles — swam like penguins, using front flippers for power and back flippers for steering.

    By
  2. Humans

    News Brief: Ancient teeth point to Neandertal relatives

    New analyses of some teeth found in Siberia indicate that Neandertal cousins known as Denisovans lived there for at least 60,000 years. That would have had them around the same place as modern humans — and at nearly the same time.

    By
  3. Genetics

    The earliest evidence of plague

    Plague is best known as the killer disease that wiped out nearly half of Europe during the 1300s. But the germ infected people up to 3,000 years earlier than that, DNA from ancient teeth now show.

    By
  4. Fossils

    Clues to the Great Dying

    Millions of years ago, nearly all life on Earth vanished. Scientists are now starting to figure out what happened.

    By
  5. Animals

    Picture This: The real ‘early bird’

    Long before dinosaurs went extinct, birds were emerging on Earth. These hummingbird-size wading birds are the earliest known ancestors of today’s birds.

    By
  6. Fossils

    ‘Frankenstein’ dino showed a mashup of traits

    New species unearthed in Chile is “an anatomical Frankenstein,” declares one of its discoverers.

    By
  7. Animals

    Scientists Say: Nematode

    Nematodes are a group of related small worms found all over the world. They can cause disease, but they also can be useful for scientists to study.

    By
  8. Humans

    Neandertals create oldest jewelry in Europe

    Adorned with all-natural signs of power: eagle claws. Holes in these claws show that Neandertals had been strung them together, like beads, as jewelry.

    By
  9. Animals

    Ocean animals have mushroomed in size

    Compared to a half-billion year ago, sea creatures are, on average, roughly 150 times bigger, a new study finds.

    By
  10. Animals

    Orangutans take the low road

    Cameras spotted orangutans walking down logging roads to get around. That may be a good sign that they can adapt to changes in their woodsy environment.

    By
  11. Animals

    Bird DNA leads to strange family tree

    Field guides often group birds together by similarities in appearance or behavior. But a new study, based on DNA, confirms earlier suspicions that such groupings are only skin-deep.

    By
  12. Fossils

    Dino double whammy

    Most scientists think an asteroid helped kill off the dinosaurs. But new calculations suggest that asteroid might have gotten some help from a long series of volcanic eruptions in what is now India.

    By