This site describes the fossils in the Stephen Formation near the Burgess Pass in present-day Yoho National Park, British Columbia, known today as the Burgess Shale. More than 65,000 specimens have been collected from the dark shale, many of which have partially or entirely preserved soft-parts that provide a unique window to Cambrian and Early Paleozoic biota. The fossiliferous strata of the Burgess ... Full description.

This site describes the Chengjiang fauna, one of the most exciting, oldest, and best preserved Paleozoic biota. With a wealth of different taxa that was never expected for the Early Cambrian, it is said to be the most spectacular paleontologic discovery since the Burgess Shale of British Columbia and one of the most important fossil archives known so far. After information on stratigraphy and preservation, ... Full description.

This description of the inland waters in the polar regions of Canada includes lakes, rivers, and wetlands. In addition, the site provides information on the ecozones of the Hudson Bay, Yukon-Mackenzie, and the Arctic Archipelago. For all areas the subject of ice is addressed to include the effects of inland ice, types of ice, and ice as a climate predictor as well as snow cover and freeze and thaw ... Full description.

This site describes in detail how tropical cyclones are named. It gives a brief history of storm names, as well as present and future names. It also lists the names of notorious storms that have been retired. Full description.

In this lesson, students will learn firsthand, by reading his journal entries and letters, how Darwin arrived at his theory. They also will gain a better sense of Darwin's journey and the role it played in his scientific career. In the first activity, Darwin's Great Voyage of Discovery, students will read his account of his voyage on the Beagle and see how this experience inspired him to devote the ... Full description.

This lesson includes two activities in which students learn that the kinds of genetic changes that can be caused by natural selection happen in all organisms and can happen with surprising speed. It looks at how understanding evolution and its mechanisms helps scientists deal with world health threats and global environmental crises as well as predict the impact new technology will have on our future. ... Full description.

These two activities demonstrate to students that although evolutionary theory is accepted by the scientific community as a valid explanation of the history and structure of the living world, its inclusion in public school curricula continues to be controversial for many. Students study the benchmark historical decisions regarding the teaching of evolution, and see how science can influence policy ... Full description.

This activity has students practice working together as a group to build a structure involving a textbook, a styrofoam cup, and a pencil. The rules of this task create a unique challenge for students. The builders are wearing blindfolds and the helpers, who are the only students who have seen the desired structure, cannot speak or handle the building materials. Consequently, the builders and helpers ... Full description.

When it was decided that the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth in the American Museum of Natural History would be designed around huge rock samples, one obvious choice for the volcano section of the hall was obsidian. This site tells the story of the quest of Dr. Ro Kinzler for that sample and the local man named Jeff Dinnel, a self-taught naturalist, who had assembled a collection of rocks, bones, and ... Full description.

This article profiles Harry Hess, who is known as one of the truly remarkable Earth scientists of the 20th century. It describes the historical background of continental drift, ideas upon which his theories were built. The site goes on to discuss the work of Hess as a World War Two naval commander, during which he developed a system for estimating the daily position of German submarines and discovered ... Full description.