Subtopic: Deep Time/History of Life

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Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Allopatric Speciation These images from the Smithsonian Institution depict Nancy Knowlton's work with snapping shrimp in Panama. Knowlton found that the closing of the isthmus -- dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean -- resulted in new species of shrimp.	9-12	JPEG Image
Animal Body Plans: Homeobox Genes The homeobox genes that define the basic body plan of mice and fruit flies are illustrated in this graphic from The Human Evolution Coloring Book by Adrienne Zihlman. The accompanying article describes how these genes act as "molecular architects" in all animal species.	9-12	PDF Document
Are We Alone? This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Becoming a Fossil This video segment describes how the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy could have been fossilized. Footage courtesy of NOVA: "In Search of Human Origins."	6-12	QuickTime Video
Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Continental Divide: The Breakup of Pangaea Examine geological evidence found in fossils, rock deposits, and ancient mountains that supports the theory of continental drift in this interactive activity adapted from the Exploratorium.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Convergence: Marsupials and Placentals This graphic illustrates some of the marsupial mammals in Australia and placental mammals in North America. Even though they are not closely related, these mammals look alike because they have adapted to similar ecological roles. From The Human Evolution Coloring Book by by Adrienne Zihlman.	9-12	PDF Document
Deep Sea Vents and Life's Origins Deep-sea vents are home to strange, luminescent life forms that thrive through chemosynthesis. This video segment from NOVA: "Volcanoes of the Deep" hypothesizes life's beginnings in this extreme environment.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Deep Time Explore 4 billion years of life on Earth and discover major transformations, geological changes, and extinction episodes in this Evolution Web feature.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Deep Time Students learn about deep time by visiting an interactive Web timeline, comparing geologic time periods to the calendar year, and setting up a live-action timeline in the classroom.	9-12	Lesson Plan
Evolution on Double Time This excerpt from Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer describes how gene duplication may have been the key to the rapid evolution of the early stages of life on Earth.	9-12	HTML Document
Finding Lucy This Evolution video segment depicts the landmark hominid fossil finds by Don Johanson and his team in Ethiopia.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Fish with Fingers In this video segment from Evolution: "Great Transformations," paleontologist Jenny Clack explains that vertebrates evolved fingers before they invaded land.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Fossil Evidence for Evolution Students learn about the fossil record, one form of evidence for evolution.	9-12	Lesson Plan
Fossils: An Ancient Sea in Indiana In this interactive activity from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, examine a piece of the ancient Borden Sea in what is now central Indiana. Explore the types of fossils found there and the clues they offer to ancient life on Earth.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Genetic Tool Kit The shared set of genes for body segments, possessed by all animals, are discussed in this video segment from Evolution: "Great Transformations."	6-12	QuickTime Video
Hummingbird Species in the Transitional Zones This video segment from Evolution: "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" shows biologists Chris Schneider and Tom Smith studying hummingbirds and other animals in Ecuador. Their research is investigating the processes by which new species are formed.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Ingredients for Life: Carbon This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Ingredients for Life: Water This video segment adapted from NOVA goes on a whimsical journey in search of life forms thriving in extreme conditions on Earth and in outer space. Animations show ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and signs that water once existed on Mars.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Laetoli Footprints This Evolution video segment describes how the famous track fossils known as the Laetoli footprints might have been formed and what they can reveal about the creatures who left them.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Laetoli Trackways Diagram View a diagram of the hominid footprints that archaeologist Mary Leakey's team found at Laetoli in Tanzania.	9-12	JPEG Image
Life Before Oxygen This Interactive NOVA: "Earth" video segment looks at ancient organisms that lived anaerobically, the origins of photosynthesis, and the new forms of life this process made possible.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Life's Grand Design Are nature's complex forms evidence of "intelligent design"? In this Evolution essay, biologist Kenneth Miller explains how the processes of evolution account for complex structures such as the human eye.	9-12	HTML Document
Life's Little Essential: Liquid Water Why is water necessary for life? Why is it the best and possibly only liquid to do the job? This illustrated essay from NOVA Online answers these questions, explaining why planetary scientists are on the lookout for water elsewhere in the solar system.	6-12	HTML Document
Mike Novacek: Fossils in the Gobi Biologist Mike Novacek discusses his discovery of mammal fossils in the Gobi Desert and what we can learn from them. From Evolution: "Extinction!"	9-12	HTML Document
Molecular Clocks: Proteins That Evolve at Different Rates From The Human Evolution Coloring Book by Adrienne Zihlman, four different proteins from humans and horses are compared in this graphic and article, and the reasons each protein evolves at its own characteristic rate are discussed. Each protein is useful for measuring evolutionary change over a different time scale.	9-12	PDF Document
An Origin of Species In this Evolution Web feature, witness for yourself how a new species can evolve as you observe natural selection and adaptive radiation in action.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Permian-Triassic Extinction In this video segment from Evolution: "Extinction!", geologist Peter Ward discusses evidence for a Permian-Triassic mass extinction.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Radiometric Dating In this video segment from A Science Odyssey: "Origins," scientists explain how Earth's age was determined by radiometric dating.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Record of Time Enter the exciting world of dating ... fossil dating, that is. From Record of Time by anthropologist Dennis O'Neil.	6-12	PDF Document
Ruminants Why do cows chew their cud? This video segment from Secret of Life: "Accidents of Creation" describes the physical adaptations that have made ruminants some of the most important, and certainly the most efficient, plant eaters on earth.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Search for Another Earth This NASA video provides an overview of technology under development to explore the planets and stars outside our solar system. These will be the most sensitive instruments built to date.	3-12	Unknown
Ted Daeschler and Neil Shubin: Early Tetrapod Fossils In this transcript of an interview filmed for Evolution: "Great Transformations," Ted Daeschler and Neil Shubin describe the discovery and significance of some of their key fossil finds.	9-12	HTML Document
Tiktaalik: Evolution of a "Fishapod" In this media-rich lesson, students learn about transitional fossils and explore the similarities and differences between the structures of different animals. They focus particularly on Tiktaalik, a transitional fossil between aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates.	9-12	Lesson Plan
Tracing Human Evolution to Its Roots This graphic from Biology by Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine suggests how some recent hominid fossil finds might fit into the overall picture of hominid evolution. As more fossils are found and further analysis advances our understanding of human evolution, this picture will almost certainly be revised.	9-12	JPEG Image
The Transforming Leap, from Four Legs to Two John Noble Wilford, a New York Times science writer, outlines various hypotheses on the origin of bipedalism.	9-12	HTML Document
Transitional Tetrapod Fossil In this video segment from NOVA: "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," learn about the discovery of a well-preserved transitional fossil and how such transitional fossils support the theory of evolution.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Whales in the Making This graphic from Evolution, traces the evolution of whales from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures we know today.	6-12	PDF Document

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Subtopic: Deep Time/History of Life