All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
2 07, 2015

Everything Dinosaur A Roaring Success at Blackpool Conference

By | July 2nd, 2015|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Everything Dinosaur A Roaring Success at Blackpool Conference

Blackpool Celebrating Science Conference Welcomes Everything Dinosaur

A busy day for Everything Dinosaur team members as they attended the Blackpool Science Conference (BCSC 2015), at Unity Academy.  Team members had prepared a series of dinosaur and fossil themed workshops to conduct with Year 4 and Year 5 children.  In addition, a member of the Everything Dinosaur staff had agreed to run a stand in the main conference hall and conduct a fossil hunting activity, in which the eager young scientists could hunt for fossils on an artificial beach.

For dinosaur models and replicas: Dinosaur Models and Prehistoric Animal Replicas.

Early in the morning, Everything Dinosaur Team Members Prepare the Stand

Blackpool Science Conference stand.

Getting the stand and fossil hunting activity for the conference.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Blackpool Science Conference

The workshops involved lifting the lid on the new movie “Jurassic World” and explaining all about some new research into dinosaur soft tissue.  The children handled real dinosaur fossil bones and got to grips with measuring and weighing different fossils as well as learning about what their own bones were made of.  Some teachers even got to break a few bones – but all in the interests of science of course.  Our thanks to Unity Academy for being such amazing hosts and to Jane Walpole and Cheryl Langley for organising the Blackpool Celebrating Science Conference.

To view the dinosaur themed learning materials including replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record: Dinosaur Games and Crafts.

Everything Dinosaur’s work did seem to go down very well, with teachers and children alike.  We got five stars out of five in our workshop feedback.

An Example of the Teacher Feedback Received by Everything Dinosaur after a Dinosaur Themed Workshop

Feedback from Blackpool Science Conference

5 stars for Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To read additional testimonials from customers: Customer Testimonials.

Sue Judd from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“It was fun helping the children to find fossils and to identify their discoveries for them, we were kept extremely busy.  I included some information about Mary Anning on the Everything Dinosaur stand, so that Year 4 and Year 5 children could learn all about Mary and her contribution to the science of palaeontology.”

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

2 07, 2015

Carbon Dioxoide Emissions Threaten Ocean Ecosystems

By | July 2nd, 2015|Animal News Stories, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Marine Life Could Be Irreversibly Damaged

Increased carbon dioxide emissions will cause great damage to oceanic ecosystems that cannot be reversed warns an international team of scientists.  In a new paper, published in the academic journal “Science”, researchers, which include Dr Carol Turley OBE, of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory state that unless CO2 emissions are curbed, the temperature of the oceans will continue to rise, oxygen levels will continue to fall and more seawater acidification will occur.

Carbon Dioxide

The scientists paint a very gloomy picture for the Earth’s oceans declaring that CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels was increasing the acidity of the oceans at a faster rate than at any time since the End Permian extinction event some 250 million years ago, that led to the greatest mass extinction known in the fossil record.  Something like 95% of all the life on Earth died out during this extinction event.

The researchers looked at a number of scenarios and models and the scientists stated that the two degree Celsius maximum temperature rise as agreed by governments is not enough to stave of the damaging effects of increased CO2.  In a very pessimistic outlook, the scientists claim that the range of options is decreasing and the cost of coping with the implications will rocket.

Marine Scientists Urge Politicians to Act

The team of twenty-two leading marine scientists report that politicians are not responding as quickly as they should to the approaching crisis.  The oceans of the world are at risk and more must be done to deal with the impact of global climate change.

The World’s Oceans are Under Threat

Lyme Regis

Photograph taken in 2009.  Coastlines under threat.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide produced since 1750 has been absorbed by the ocean.  As CO2 is slightly acidic it is changing the chemistry of the water and making it more acidic.  This is disastrous for those organisms that use calcium or argonite to build shells or to construct colonies.

Dr Turley stated:

The ocean is at the frontline of climate change with its physics and chemistry being altered at an unprecedented rate so much so that ecosystems and organisms are already changing and will continue to do so as we emit more CO2.  The ocean provides us with food, energy, minerals, drugs and half the oxygen in the atmosphere, and it regulates our climate and weather.  We are asking policy makers to recognise the potential consequences of these dramatic changes and raise the profile of the ocean in international talks where, up to now, it has barely got a mention.”

A Sixth Mass Extinction

Recently, Everything Dinosaur reported on the research conducted by scientists at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, the University of California, Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of Florida that concluded that our planet was entering a sixth, global mass extinction phase.

To read more about this research: Study Suggests Sixth Mass Extinction Event in Earth’s History.

Ammonite Extinction Due Acidification of the Oceans

The Bullyland ammonite model next to a polished section of an ammonite fossil.
The Bullyland ammonite model is often used in museum displays to depict the living animal next to fossil material. It is thought that acidification of the oceans in part brought on by high CO2 levels led to the extinction of these cephalopods. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture (above) shows a Bullyland ammonite model: Bullyland Range of Models and Replicas.

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