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In these lesson plans paired to the March issue of Science News Explores, students will explore the cosmic timeline of the universe’s evolution era by era and analyze graphs tracking bats’ predatory behavior.

Students will explore the cosmic timeline of the universe’s evolution era by era, from the Big Bang until today. Students will present about one of the eras using a visual aid they created to help communicate what happened during the era and the physics behind it.

Swoop aside, vampire bats. The grisly-eater prize may go to Europe’s greater noctule bats. Discuss how various measurements can combine to increase our understanding of a complex predator-prey behavior, all while interpreting graphs and discussing how other forms of evidence could improve the current model.

Many people fear sharks even though it’s more likely for someone to be struck by lightning than bitten by a shark. People should instead fear for sharks, many of which are threatened. Researchers are working to convince people that sharks, which are vital to maintaining the ocean’s health, are more valuable alive than dead.

Sexual harassment of science students is widespread in the United States, according to a 2018 report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. To improve, universities need to change their culture and environment, and research and legislation could help guide their actions.

In these lesson plans paired to the February issue of Science News, students will investigate how researchers applied chemistry principles to create a potential needle-free solution to deliver insulin and will answer questions about how biologically derived innovations could address technological limitations of 3-D printing.

Students will investigate how researchers apply chemistry principles to create a potential solution to help diabetes patients. Students will define the problem of why it’s difficult to create skin patches to deliver diabetes drugs and brainstorm possible solutions by thinking about the structure and function of the different layers of the epidermis.

To 3-D print tiny things, researchers need tiny tools. Learn about how nature’s age-old designs might be repurposed to address technological limitations. Discuss obstacles that hold 3-D printing technology back from reaching its full potential, all while answering questions about how biologically derived innovation might expand to other applications and lead to a more sustainable future.

Universities that opened their campuses in fall 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, faced an uncharted, months-long experiment in infection control. Science News looked at the measures five universities took. Each school cobbled together periodic testing with rules about masks and public gatherings.

For 3,000 years, humans have connected emotions to some of the same body parts. An analysis of clay tablets reveals that ancient Mesopotamians felt love in the heart and fear in the gut, as we do today.

In this activity, students will design an experiment to observe how exercise affects their ability to concentrate in class. Students will then read the Science News Explores article “Short exercise workouts can boost classroom performance” and analyze how their experiment differed from the experiment described in the article.

In 2025, the Trump administration froze or terminated more than 3,800 research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The roughly $3 billion in cuts targeted initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental protection; vaccine hesitancy; public health and more.