New Dinosaur LEGO Set

You can claim to be interested in historical artifacts like pottery, suits of armor, and maybe even a mummy, but the most compelling reason to visit a museum, even as an adult, are the dinosaur fossils. If your hometown happens to be lacking in museums, however, Lego’s new Dinosaur Fossils set puts a small collection of thunder lizard skeletons on your desk, no admission required.

Photo: Lego

The 910-piece set, which is another Lego Ideas fan creation put into production, includes three 1:32-scale replicas of Triceratops, Pteranodon, and Tyrannosaurus rex, with T. Rex measuring in at 15.4 inches long. All three are fully posable and each includes a display stand with a tiny plaque for creating your own exhibit, but you can also make these dinos stomp around your desk should you find yourself trapped and bored during a long conference call.

Photo: Lego

If you’re having a hard time justifying the set’s $60 price tag because of other adult fiscal responsibilities, Lego is including a tiny paleontologist minifigure, as well as a Lego sapiens skeleton figure (which could help explain the mysterious disappearance of that paleontologist’s partner) so you can convince yourself you’re training for a career in paleontology while enjoying your favorite childhood toy. You can even tell yourself you’re buying it for your daughter, son, niece, nephew, or younger cousin to help foster an interest in science, and then conveniently forget to give it to them on their birthday. Whatever works.

Dinosaur Stamps Incoming!

I'm so excited for these new stamps!

There will be a total of 16 stamps available, the U.S. Postal Service said. 

"'The “Nation’s T. rex,' the young adult depicted on two of the stamps, was discovered on federal land in Montana and is one of the most studied and important specimens ever found," postal service officials said in a release earlier this week. 

The Origin of Birds - Dr. Julia Clarke

Paleontologist Dr. Julia Clarke shares the evidence that connects modern-day birds with dinosaurs in this 19 minute exploration: The Origin of Birds. Also: Archaeopteryx, one of the most important fossils ever discovered.

The video belongs to HHMI BioInteractive‘s Great Transitions in Evolution, a series about the “fossils of animals with features that are intermediate between those of ancestral and modern groups–or transitional fossils–provide evidence for the evolutionary origin of key anatomical structures.” More about the video:

The discovery of Archaeopteryx in a quarry in Germany in the early 1860s provided the first clue that birds descended from reptiles. But what kind of reptile? In the last 40 years, scientists have identified many shared features between birds and two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods.

The film illustrates many of the practices of science, including asking important questions, formulating and testing hypotheses, analyzing and interpreting evidence, and revising explanations as new evidence becomes available.

HHMI BioInteractive also has an abbreviated film guide for educators [pdf], a transcript, and videos available for download.