Where Have All of the Sauropods Gone?

For the the past 100 years, paleontologists have been trying to solve the puzzle of where all the sauropods have gone. What's a paleontologist? A paleontologist is one who studies animal and plant fossils. What's a sauropod? A sauropod is any herbivorous dinosaur of the suborder Sauropoda, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, having a small head, long neck and tail, and five-toed limbs, and it's the largest recorded land animal.

In North America and Europe, the Jurassic was the heyday of the sauropods dinosaurs. After the beginning of Cretaceous period 145 million years ago, but the number of sauropod dinosaurs dwindled and then they disappeared. It was later that other sauropods from a different location reestablished the existence of these dinosaurs.

As explained in paleography by paleontologist Phillip Upchruch, the amazing "sauropod hiatus" is probably an illusion. Over the past few years, new dinosaur discoveries have begun to complete in the gap of sauropod gaps on both North America and Europe. One reason paleontologists may not have found sauropods in North America and Europe, is because they may be missing on the continents. They may have been missing in North America only between about 90 to 75 million years ago. They are absent in Europe between 83 and 95 million years ago.

There are still uncertain about those dates. Some of the 70 to 80 million year old sauropod remains discovered in North America have actually belonged to a different type of dinosaur, the hadrosaurs.

I have been wanting to be a paleontologist because I am interested in science, and the study of fossils. I was inspired by my fourth grade teacher because she was the one that first introduced me to paleontology.

To find out more go to http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/, or watch the video I made:

History of Berlin Wall

After World War II's end in Europe (1945), Germany was divided into four sectors, each one controlled by one of the Allied Powers, which included the Americans, French, British, and the Soviet Union. Conflict between the Soviets and the other powers split Germany in half, the East and the West, even splitting the country's capital, Berlin into East and West Berlin.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who occupied the eastern side of Germany, prevented foreign help from other nations to fly into West Germany with supplies, the Berlin Blockade. Other nations wanted to help, so the Berlin Airlift was devised.

In the 1950s, West Germany benefited from economic success, so East Germans were looking to live in West Germany.

Construction of the 87 mile long Berlin Wall started in 1961, funded by the GDR and closing crossing points. Many Berliners were cut off from jobs. Money changed, the economies changed, and ideas changed between the two sides. The rift between East and West Germany remained, that rift separating families. Several died trying to cross the wall.

President Kennedy and President Reagan pleaded with the GDR to take down the wall.

Under international pressure, the GDR allowed travel between the two sides in 1989. In 1990, the Wall of Berlin fell.

Sources: Wikipedia, Cold War Flies, New York Times, German Missions in the United States

by Brigette W.

A Visual Story of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On November 9, 2009, was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wall was knocked down at the end of the cold war. The wall was about 100 miles long, and about 136 people died trying to cross it.

I got these photos from The New York Times and Google images.

The New York Times ran a special interactive package in which people could submit their own photos from the fall of the wall.

Read Brigette's story about the history of the wall.

The Fall of the Wall: The Berlin Wall 20 Years Later

Just before midnight on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall — the concrete structure — that divided East and West Berlin started to crumble. The end of the Berlin Wall symbolized the end of communism and the Cold War.

Tell readers about the Berlin Wall -- what it was, how it came to be, and what it symbolizes now.

You are writing a news story about the event and why it still matters. Remember to answer the five W's to a newstory.

Also, look at the following sites for background. Consider linking to them from your story.

• The Fall of the Wall, The Cold War Files / Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Freedom Without Walls: Fall of the Berlin Wall, German Missions in the United States
• A before-and-after look, from The New York Times
• Slideshow, from The New York Times
• History of the wall, from Wikipedia
  

Source material: The New York Times