News — Science
On the Evolutionary Uses of Storytelling
Image by Benjamin F. Berlin, via LACMA Mental Rehearsals Imagining alternate realities does not stop with childhood. We practice our ability to construct counterfactual realities throughout our lives. Consider literature and art. We are transfixed by stories of daring feats, dangerous threats, and desperate ordeals. They can be long or short, comic or tragic, extraordinary or artfully banal. But we love telling stories and listening to them. Stories are evolutionarily useful because they help us hone our reasoning with counterfactuals. They are springboards to thinking vividly and imaginatively. Epic adventures are a feature of many cultures and eras, from the...
Not a sprint star: Research says T
rex was built for distance, not speed Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the most feared predators in the Age of Dinosaurs, may have been built for endurance, not speed. A paper published Wednesday takes recent research on how mammals move and applies it to dinosaurs. Its conclusions support theories that the massive meat-eaters hunted in packs and opens a window into the ecology of the ancient forests they roamed. “We’re trying to figure out how much energy is going into and flowing through paleo ecosystems,” said Hans Larsson of Montreal’s McGill University, one of the paper’s co-authors. “If we can’t get...
This Fall STEM Challenge will not only get kids outside and engaged with nature, it will also encourage them to use their creativity and problem solving skills to create a leaf sculpture greater than 6 inches tall.
Can you make a leaf sculpture? Disclosure: This post contains Affiliate Links FALL STEM Challenge for Kids: Leaf Sculptures Objective: This lesson will engage early childhood children (Preschool to 3rd Grade) in STEM skills to design and build a leaf structure that is more than 6 inches tall. STEM Skills Presented in this Lesson: Science: Children will explore their natural world and learn about photosynthesis and chlorophyll. Technology: Watch a video clip to introduce children to the terms of colors changing. Engineering: Design and Build a leaf sculpture that is over 6 inches tall. Math: The students will measure their...