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New discoveries about the natural world can inspire the design of human-made objects. In this activity, students will learn about how the overlapping feathers on birds’ wings prompted engineers to reimagine the design of aircraft wings. Students will explain how this is an example of bioinspired design and then create their own bioinspired designs.

In February 2024, a team of researchers collected 580,000 records on domestic dogs in the United Kingdom. On average, dogs live roughly 10 to 14 years. Overall, dogs from pure breeds that are small and have a long nose seemed to have longer life spans. But some flat-faced dogs, such as Tibetan mastiffs, had an average life span of 13 years.

Ocean explorers just uncovered a treasure trove. A newly discovered undersea mountain may be home to 20 new species. Explore these life forms while answering questions about the value of such discoveries in a time of rapid climate change.

Use this lesson plan to learn about an article type called Explainers that is published by Science News Explores in print and online. You can also access a lesson plan template that can be used with any Explainer article. Explainer articles take a deep dive into a key scientific concept or process.

Use this lesson plan and the provided template to have your students practice the Cornell Note-taking System with any article. This literacy strategy organizes notes into two columns that provide structure for note-taking, analysis and review and that will help increase students’ learning, comprehension and retention.

Climate scientists are continuing to develop new methods to sequester atmospheric carbon to help curb climate change. In this activity, students will learn about how carbon can be sequestered through the burial of organic material and review the carbon cycle. Students will practice using percent by mass concepts and dimensional analysis to calculate how much wood would need to be buried to achieve climate targets by the year 2060. As an optional extension, students may then develop a plan to mitigate greenhouse gas production that utilizes biomass burying techniques.

Students will review the components of respiration and photosynthesis reactions to illustrate how the two are complementary. Then students will investigate what impact megafire smoke may have had on photosynthesis for California nut trees. Then students will apply their knowledge by predicting the outcome for photosynthesis and respiration in several scenarios.

Scientists have discovered that Dicyrtomina minuta, a species of globular springtail, can perform the fastest backflip of any animal on Earth. Use this discussion to have students review how the research team studied springtail backflips by analyzing high-speed footage.

Then, in this related activity by DataClassroom, have students analyze graphs of the springtail research data to learn about the linear velocity, angular velocity, linear acceleration and rotational acceleration of springtail flips using this Stacked Graphs and Biophysics with Spring-Loaded Arthropods activity. Create a free account to view the student-facing dataset and activity within the DataClassroom web application. View the teacher answer key here.

Scientists agree that the Amazon is in grave trouble because of human activities, such as deforestation, and climate change. Past studies have suggested certain rates of deforestation would trigger the Amazon to transform into a savanna, but many scientists now say the forest probably doesn’t have a single, clear tipping point. Still, researchers are working to understand what needs to be done — and how soon — to save the forest. Use the map and graph titled “Rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon” to have students analyze the area and rate of deforestation in the Amazon.

Learn how scientists use vampire bats' unusual locomotion to investigate mysteries of their blood-based metabolism. Then, answer questions about this study’s experimental design and discuss how chemical analysis data can support conclusions and answer scientific questions.

Smartphone use is changing human behavior and likely influencing our brains. New research is turning up clues as to how our interaction with devices is shaping our memory, navigation and even our happiness. Use the data visualization “Screentime” and graph “What am I missing” to have students analyze data on phone use and behavior.

Students will learn how their bodies help protect them from bacteria, viruses and other foreign invaders. Have students review the major components of the immune system and investigate the life cycles of a few prevalent pathogens of polar bears, focusing on the mode of transmission and effects of being infected by the pathogen. Students will then infer why polar bears are being exposed to these pathogens more regularly.