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Mosses Tell Story of Retreating Ice

This guide connects the radioactive carbon-14 dating of newly exposed mosses in the Arctic to the bigger story of climate change.

Exploring half-life

Students will simulate the exponential radioactive decay and half-life of carbon-14 with pennies and a food coloring/bleach chemical reaction.

Making carbon connections

These discussion prompts cover the basics of radioactive decay and carbon-14 dating, as well as concepts related to climate change.

Uniting past and present

Students will search the Science News archive for stories related to frozen mosses, radioactive carbon-14 dating and global warming.

Mosses exposed and analyzed

Students will answer questions about how scientists measure the age of newly thawed mosses in the Arctic, and the implications of those scientists' findings.

Neutron Star Crash Seen for First Time

This guide explores the recent discovery of a neutron star collision and encourages students to make connections to stellar evolution, gravitational waves and fusion reactions.

The pressure to be a star

To better understand the life cycle of stars, students will estimate the conditions involved in stars and element formation.

Star light, star bright

These discussion prompts cover the principles of spectroscopy, stellar evolution and fusion reactions.

Crash from the past

Students will search the Science News archive for other stories on neutron star collisions and gravitational waves.

Origami Outfits Help Bots Retool

This guide describes how origami robots can perform various tasks while being driven by a solenoid, and then asks students to make their own simple solenoids.

Going beyond the robot

These discussion prompts cover topics related to materials science, magnetism, and biological adaptation and self-assembly.

That’s a wrap

Students will answer questions about how a cubic metallic robot wraps itself in different exoskeletons to perform different functions.