How to Catch a Polar Region Allosaurus
By The 4-Year-Old Dress in something flashy for camouflage. Red shirts are best. They will distract the Allosaurus into thinking you’re dead. Set dinosaur baits in…
Yet Another Reason to Hate Laundry and Other News of the Week
Plastic pollution, comets, a stash of Roman hobnailed sandals and other news of the week.
What do you call a group of pterosaurs?
What do you call a group of pterosaurs, anyway?
Update to a Past Caterpickle: “Why did they draw that dinosaur underwater?”
While researching the answer to yesterday’s question: “Could sauropods swim?” I came across several articles that touched on the aquatic sauropod. And I realized that the explanation for why paleontologists moved sauropods out of the water and onto land wasn’t quite as simple as I had believed.
“Could sauropods swim?”
Last week, while watching the 1925 movie The Lost World, a lively debate broke out at Caterpickles Central about whether or not sauropods could swim. I will spare you the less informed arguments generated in our playroom in favor of cutting directly to the moderately informed arguments generated on the Web.
Movie Review: The Lost World (1925)
Last weekend, the denizens of Caterpickles Central gathered in the playroom to watch The Lost World, the first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel of the same name.
“Could a T. Rex lift a woolly mammoth?”
When my daughter first asked me if a T. Rex could lift a woolly mammoth, the answer seemed obvious: No. They lived in two completely different time periods. But what if time were no obstacle?
Science News Roundup: Raptors, Ammonites and Preschoolers, Oh My!
New dinosaur found in North America, another penguin makes headlines, and other news of the week
“How long will it take for my wishbone to fossilize?”
A week or two ago there was a heated scene in our kitchen between my daughter and her father regarding the future of a rather extraordinary (in my daughter’s opinion) wishbone extracted from a rather ordinary (in her father’s opinion) rotisserie chicken. My daughter wanted to add the wishbone to her collection. My husband objected. “Bones have no place in this house. Unless they are fossils.” Wait for it… “Daddyo, how long will it take for my wishbone to fossilize?”
“What’s the wishbone for, Mommyo?”
One evening while pulling the meat from a rotisserie chicken to make tortilla soup, I discovered the bird’s wishbone and decided to use it as a Teachable Moment. When I presented the wishbone to my daughter, she asked, “What’s a wishbone for, Mommyo?” To which I replied, “Well you hold this end and I hold that end, and we pull to see who gets to make a wish.” “No, Mommyo. What’s a wishbone really for?”
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