National Museum of Natural History: Qrius: How Fossils Explain the Rise of Dinosaurs

A zoologist from the National Museum of Natural History discusses his discovery of new mammals and why scientists are still looking for new mammals. What can finding new mammals tell us about Earth? [37:59]

A webcast features a paleontologist who presents the data that can be collected by fossil whales. [29:15]

An archaeologist explains how the bones of early humans can reveal information about their diets. [29:15]

Dr. Michael Wise explains the incredible qualities of rocks called pegmatites, and our dependence on them for minerals. Wise is a geologist at the National Museum of Natural History. [29:19]

Understand how microbes transform minerals in this webcast. How can microbes possibly help curb pollution? [29:16]

Discover the evolutionary history of farming ants from Dr. Ted Schultz, an entomologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. What can this study teach us? [34:02]

How do inhabitants on islands alter the ecosystem over time? An archaeologist will identify specific changes over many years that occurred as a result of human arrival on islands. [29:16]

Dr. Tim McCoy delves into how we can learn about the formation of the solar system through studying meteorites. [29:16]

Dinosaurs were not the only life to go extinct and leave a trail to their history. This webcast presents a paleobotanist who has studied extinction at a site in North Dakota. He discusses mass extinction. [29:16]

What makes a species likely to go extinct? What makes some species stick around longer than others? This webcast will investigate these questions. [31:30]