3 Mythological Creatures That Were Inspired by Real Fossils
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 5 October 2020
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about three mythological creatures that were inspired by real fossils, how people prefer to root for winning individuals over teams, and how scientists have created interactive paper.
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Three Mythological Creatures That Were Actually Inspired by Real Fossils by Reuben Westmaas
- Pappas, S. (2017, July 18). Cyclops and Dragon Tongues: How Real Fossils Inspired Giant Myths. Livescience.Com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/59837-how-real-fossils-inspired-giant-myths.html
- Greek Giants | AMNH. (2020). American Museum of Natural History. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land/greek-giants
- Yaserda, J. (2016). The pocket-sized pachyderms of Sicily. Earth Archives. http://www.eartharchives.org/articles/the-pocket-sized-pachyderms-of-sicily/
- Mammoth Paleontology | The Mammoth. (2015). Umass.Edu. https://blogs.umass.edu/holtb/2017/12/06/mammoth-paleontology/
- The skeletons of Cyclops and Lestrigons: misinterpretation of Quaternary vertebrates as remains of the mythological giants. (2019). Historical Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2017.1342640
People love seeing individuals hit winning streaks, but not teams by Kelsey Donk
- People love winning streaks by individuals -- teams, not so much. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/osu-plw083020.php
- Walker, J., & Gilovich, T. (2020). The streaking star effect: Why people want superior performance by individuals to continue more than identical performance by groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000256
A new printing process can turn paper into a machine interface by Steffie Drucker
- Your paper notebook could become your next tablet. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/pu-ypn083120.php
- Nalewicki, J. (2020, September 4). With a Simple Piece of Paper, Engineers Create Self-Powered, Wireless Keyboard. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-next-digital-tablet-could-be-made-paper-180975727/
- Song, V. (2020, September). Engineers Have Figured Out How to Make Interactive Paper. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/engineers-have-figured-out-how-to-make-interactive-pape-1844918464
- Paper keypad demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0iCxjicJIQ&feature=youtu.be
- Paper music player demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9E6vXYtIw0&feature=youtu.be
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:07.0 | And I'm Natalia Reagan. |
| 0:08.0 | Today you'll learn about three mythological creatures that were inspired by real fossils, how people prefer to root for |
| 0:14.3 | winning individuals over teams, and how scientists have created interactive paper. |
| 0:18.6 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:20.8 | So here's a puzzle. |
| 0:23.0 | Dinosaur fossils have been around for as long as human beings have walked the earth. |
| 0:27.0 | So how is it that it took until the 1800s to first discover them? |
| 0:31.0 | The fact is, it didn't. Ancient people probably found |
| 0:34.9 | fossils too. We know this because they left clues in their myths and |
| 0:39.0 | legends and I'm going to tell you about three of my favorites. |
| 0:42.9 | Number one, the Cyclops. |
| 0:45.6 | According to Greek myth, these one-eye giants |
| 0:48.3 | lived on the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, |
| 0:51.5 | where they would feast on any humans unlucky enough to get too close. |
| 0:55.0 | According to paleontologists, Sicily and its neighboring islands were once inhabited by numerous species |
| 1:01.0 | of dwarf elephants. Here's the thing of dwarf elephants. |
| 1:02.8 | Here's the thing about dwarf elephants. |
| 1:05.1 | Their skulls are really oddly human-like, |
| 1:08.1 | and smack in the middle of them |
| 1:09.7 | is a massive hole for their trunk, |
... |
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