Fun with fossils!
17:30
A Dino’s Last Dinner And Eavesdropping Birds
Scientists look inside the fossilized stomach contents of a massive dinosaur. And, why some birds listen for prairie dogs’ alarm calls.
17:13
Ancient Bone Proteins May Offer Insight On Megafauna Extinction
Collagen from a fossilized bone fragment can identify the animal it came from. And, some new info about our galaxy’s eventual extinction.
17:24
50 Years Of Science With Lucy, Our Famous Early Ancestor
On the anniversary of Lucy’s discovery, paleoanthropologists reflect on what she means to science, and what she taught us about ourselves.
16:34
Dinosaurs’ Secrets Might Be In Their Fossilized Poop
Analyzing fossilized feces, called coprolites, is key to better understanding ancient ecosystems and dinosaur diets.
12:08
How Lucy, Our Famous Ancestor, Runs On A Virtual Treadmill
Scientists determined that Lucy, a human ancestor from 3.2 million years ago, couldn’t have beaten modern humans in a foot race.
12:15
How Do You Know If A Feathered Dinosaur Could Fly?
Researchers found that a specific number and symmetry of certain feathers can indicate whether a bird (or dinosaur) could fly.
How Do You Figure Out How Dinosaurs Walked?
Analyze the gait of bipedal organisms, including humans, chimps, and birds, then use pelvic anatomy to predict how theropod dinosaurs walked.
17:16
What Was It Like To Witness The End Of The Dinosaurs?
A new book chronicles what happened in the minutes, days, weeks, and years after the infamous asteroid hit the Earth.
17:26
How Did ‘Prehistoric Planet’ Make Dinosaurs Look So Real?
Paleontologists and producers unveil the behind-the-scenes action of recreating accurate dinosaurs in a new docuseries on Apple TV+.
6:41
Thanks To A Mesozoic Hot Spot, We Finally Know How Old The Utahraptor Is
Researchers have found that the Utahraptor is 10 million years older than previously thought.
5:33
Scientists Discover Dinosaur ‘Coliseum’ In Alaska’s Denali National Park
Seventy million years ago, Denali National Park in Alaska was swarming with dinosaurs. Today, we have thousands of their footprints.
Time Traveling at La Brea Tar Pits
The SciFri staff visited La Brea Tar Pits, which is celebrating 100 years of excavation.
How to Build a Dinosaur
The puppets in the live stage production “Walking With Dinosaurs” evoke a convincing “dino-ness.”
How Do Scientists Know What Dinosaurs Looked Like?
Put yourselves in the shoes of a paleontologist and paleoartist as you try to recreate what dinosaurs looked like using the same methods as the experts.
Fossilization And Decay At The La Brea Tar Pits
Using the La Brea Tar Pits as inspiration, look at the conditions that affect fossil formation.
Build A Model Dinosaur
Gather fossil evidence of natural history, physiology, and behavior to design and build a model dinosaur–then animate it!
7:35
Cracking Open How Dinosaurs Hatched
The incubation period for dinosaurs, depending on the species, could have ranged from 3–6 months.
The Mysterious Swimming Habits Of The Ancient Ammonite
These extinct shelled cephalopods ruled the ocean for 300 million years. But how they swam and shaped the seas remains a mystery.
17:08
Digging For Answers To Avians’ Ancestors
Paleontologist Jingmai O’Connor studies prehistoric bird fossils found in China to answer questions about the evolution of dinosaurs and flight.
Make Your Own Sauropod Poop!
How did dinosaurs digest the food they ate? Using modern animals as models, make your own digestive system to learn more.
11:52
How Algae Survived A Mass Extinction
During the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, one type of algae saved Earth’s oceans from collapse.
Insect Microfossils Provide Prehistoric Insights
Discovered at La Brea Tar Pits, the pupa helps reveal clues to what the environment was like in Southern California during the Pleistocene Epoch.
An Ancient Flower, Preserved in Amber
A recently described 100 million-year-old fossil is the most complete flowering plant from the Cretaceous discovered.
Mining For The Phosphorus Locked In Ancient Poop
Scientists once looked to fossilized feces to help fertilize new agriculture fields. But do the costs outweigh the benefits in the longterm?
17:09
A Strange-Looking Fish, Frozen In Time
A group of fish called gar, dubbed “living fossils,” may have the slowest rate of evolution of any jawed vertebrate.
17:37
A New Story For One Of The Planet’s Oldest Creatures
The history of the dinosaurs is being rewritten by young scientists digging up new discoveries in the golden age of dinosaur fossil hunting.
How Do Fossils Form? Fossilize Me! Card Game
Explore the diversity of fossil types and test your knowledge with the Fossilize Me! Card Game. Can you successfully put together an organism, type of preservation, and fossil before that organism decays?