HOW DO YOU STUDY A PLANT FOSSIL?
Working with plant fossils is an extremely rewarding job! The most interesting thing is to do fieldwork and to collect the fossils. In the field, the fossils are numbered and carefully packed. Once the fossils arrive at the museum, they are catalogued and sometimes cleaned. Then we “describe” the fossils (measure them, assess their shape, note if they have veins) and analyze them. They are compared with modern plants and other fossils that are similar. This way we can figure out their plant ancestors and if there are any modern, related plants that will help us understand their past distribution. When possible, we reconstruct the environment (habitat and climate) in which they lived with the help of geologists and sedimentologists.
WHEN—THAT IS, FROM WHAT TIME IN THE PAST—DO YOU FIND FLOWERING PLANT FOSSILS?
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the March 2020 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
