For many plants, spring is just a really good time. They have endured a cold, dark, hard winter and in some places, winters can be murderously tough for plants.

It makes sense that when spring comes around, plants are ready to take advantage of warmer temperatures, longer days and more sunshine. They resume growth after their winter dormancies and many rapidly produce flowers.

You’ve probably been spotting the sudden springtime explosion of flowers everywhere on your neighbourhood walks, your commute or in your own garden.

But why exactly do flowers go crazy in spring, and how do they know exactly when to show up for duty? Here’s the science.

Letting loose in a big rush

For many plants, the conditions for growth in spring are close to ideal. Water, warmth and sunlight are suddenly readily available.

Plants don’t have to hold back anymore. They can resume almost unconstrained growth and have the energy and resources to invest in flowering.

Your garden (or a patch of natural bush) is, in fact, a highly competitive environment.

Plants will rush to produce masses of flowers in the hope this will give individual plants an advantage in the reproductive race that ultimately might lead to seed and reproduction. This, after all, is the universal goal of biological success.

There is another factor, however, that also influences spring flowering.

The birds and the bees (and other insects)

Flowering plants (known as angiosperms) are relatively recent arrivals on the evolutionary time line. They first became significant during the Cretaceous Period, about 100 to 120 million years ago.

By then, insects had already been on the scene and evolving for millions of years. Birds had evolved more or less at the same time as these flowering plants, becoming more common during the Cretaceous Period too, but a few million years earlier.

These creatures, the plants noticed, were excellent at dispersing pollen and seeds. Many flowering plants evolved to use their helpful services.

Before the angiosperms, ancient plants used spores for reproduction. Conifers, which had evolved hundreds of millions of years before angiosperms, used wind to disperse their pollen. Seed dispersal was often limited, unreliable and slow.

Flowering plants needed to attract pollinators and seed dispersal vectors, such as insects and birds. Many developed flashy and showy flowers: the epitome of good advertising.

So flowering in spring coincides with the return of migratory birds and the life cycles of insects (insect activity usually declines over winter).

It makes great sense that many plants flower when the insects and birds so vital to their reproductive success are also getting active (and getting busy).

It is a matter of great timing that benefits all involved.

Timing is everything

The way flowering plants time their flowering is superb biology.

Many people assume warmer temperatures trigger spring flowering. But temperature is renowned for its variability and unpredictability. Temperature is not a good indicator of season or time.

So most plants measure day length using a green pigment called phytochrome (literally plant colour). This exists in two forms, one of which is active in triggering plant metabolism.

This phytochrome system enables plants to measure, with remarkable accuracy, both day length (also known as photoperiod) and the night length.

The ratio of the two forms allows plants to measure time like a biological clock.

Photoperiod is a very accurate and reliable measure of time and season and so plants nearly always get their flowering times in spring right.

In some plants there is an extra feature that can affect flowering, where the plants produce an inhibitor (abscisic acid) before winter that keeps them dormant.

Abscisic acid is cold-sensitive. So when spring comes, the inhibitor level is low. This, combined with photoperiod, helps initiate flowering.

The two mechanisms combined are a very reliable and consistent trigger for flowering.

Advantages to being a flower in spring

Flowering in spring means plants can use insects and birds to facilitate pollination and disperse seeds.

The pollen can be spread effectively and in a targeted way to other flowers of the same species. Less valuable pollen is wasted than if you’re relying on wind dispersal.

The seed can spread over much greater distances. The seed for many species will germinate during spring when growth conditions are highly favourable.

It’s not a coincidence flowering plants with this type of reproductive biology spread around the globe very quickly after their emergence during the Cretaceous Period.

They are highly efficient and successful plants.

Not everyone can be a flower in spring

So why don’t all flowering plants bloom in spring?

It is one of the delights of biology that there is nearly always room for contrarians and exceptions.

Some plants flower in autumn or perhaps during winter and some in summer, but there is always advantage in them doing so.

Sometimes it’s to avoid the fierce competition from all those other spring flowers in attracting pollinators.

Sometimes it’s because they are focused on a particular insect or bird vector that another season suits better.

Sometimes it’s because the plants can only survive in a highly competitive environment by not flowering in spring.

In the complex web of plant biology, a one-size-fits all approach never works.

Spring flowering has a lot going for it – as the current profusion of flowers attests – but many plants have made success of being different.

Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

How is paint made? – Atharva, age 11, Bengaluru, India

Did you ever mix dirt and water when you were playing outside? You made a paint. Did you draw shapes on the ground with your muddy hands? You made a painting.

Paint is made by combining a colorful substance – a pigment – with another material that binds the color together and helps spread that color onto surfaces such as paper, fabric or wood. Pigments can be found everywhere – in rocks and minerals, plants or insects. Some colors are made by scientists in laboratories.

Long ago, artists made their own paints by mixing pigments with natural materials such as water, oil or egg yolk to hold the colors together in a paste. Artists today can still make their own paints, or they can order them from factories that mix, package and ship paint all over the world. Paint companies use large, industrial machines to grind pigments and binders together; these commercial paints include synthetic materials and preservatives to control the paint’s behavior and to help paint last longer in tubes or cans.

Paints and coatings do many jobs beyond just coloring paper in an artist’s studio. They are also used as protective coatings to shield houses and cars from the sun or the cold, or as a barrier between boats and the water that surrounds their wood, metal or plastic parts. Where and how a paint will be used influence how it’s made and with what ingredients.

Choosing the right materials

A lot of questions need to be answered before materials are chosen for a paint.

• Who will use the paint? An artist, a house painter, an armadillo, a robot at an assembly plant?
• Why is the paint being used? For museum paintings and sculptures? In designs for furniture or mailboxes?
• How will the paint be applied? By brush, by spray, or some other way?
• Where and when will the paint be used? Does it need to dry quickly or slowly? Will the painted surface get really cold or hot? Is the paint safe for kids to use at home or school?
• What should the paint look like? Should the dried paint be shiny or matte? Should the surface be lumpy, or should it flatten and level out? Should the colors be bright or dull? Should the paint layers be opaque, transparent or almost clear? Does the paint need to hold up against scuffs and stains?

There are many different companies that design and make the wide range of paints used around the world for all these various applications. Experts at each manufacturer understand their special type of paint, how the paint materials are measured and mixed, and the best ways to store and apply the paint. A single factory can make tens of thousands of gallons of paint each day, and paint companies produce millions of tubes of paint every year.

Using paint to learn about the past

We work at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, where we study and conserve the diverse collection of painted objects at the Smithsonian – from planes and spacecraft to portraits of presidents and maps covered in abstract swirls of color. Bright coatings are part of everything from the painted clothing and cultural items of Native peoples to the pots and pans used by chef Julia Child.

Art conservators and conservation scientists like us work together to study and preserve cultural heritage such as paintings and painted objects. Studying paint helps us learn about the past and protect this history for future generations.

The paint colors used on large, traditional Indian paintings called “pichwai,” for example, include pigments gathered from around the world. They can reveal information about ancient manufacturing and how communities that lived far apart exchanged goods and knowledge.

There are many techniques to investigate artwork, from looking at small pieces of paint under a microscope to using more complicated equipment to analyze materials exposed to different types of energy. For example, we can use X-ray, infrared or ultraviolet imaging to identify different pigments in a painting.

Research on an Alaskan Tlingit crest hat made in the 1800s looked at the molecules in paint binders, combined with 3D scanning, to help clan members replicate the hat for ceremonial use.

Unusual uses bring conservation challenges

Artists use all sorts of materials in their artwork that were designed for other purposes. Some 19th- and early 20th-century sculptures were painted with laundry bluing – a material that used blue pigment to brighten clothes during washing. In the 1950s, artists started using thin, quick-drying house paint in their paintings.

When paints are used in a way that was not part of their design, strange things can happen. Paints made to be applied in thin layers but instead are used in thick layers can wrinkle and pucker as they dry. Paints designed to stick to rough wood can curl or lift away from slick surfaces. The colors and ingredients in paint can also fade or darken over time. Some artists want these different effects in their artwork; some artists are surprised when paints don’t behave the way they expected.

Art conservators and conservation scientists use information about artists and their paints to understand why artworks are faded, broken or acting in surprising ways, and they use that knowledge to slow or stop the damage. We can even clean some kinds of damage with lasers.

The more we know about paint, the more we learn about the past lives of painted objects and how to keep those objects around for a long, long time.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Dawn Rogala, Paintings Conservator and Program Manager, Smithsonian Institution and Gwénaëlle Kavich, Conservation Scientist, Smithsonian Institution

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Why do we need to do homework when we already spend all day in school? – Grace, aged nine, Belfast

If you’ve ever stared at your homework feeling stuck, you’re not alone. Many children say it makes them feel stressed, bored, or even anxious. Why do teachers keep giving you work to do at home when you’ve already spent hours learning at school?

The available research suggests that for secondary school students, well-designed homework can lead to about five extra months of progress in subjects like maths and English. In primary school, the impact is smaller – around three months – but still useful.

Homework helps you practise what you’ve learned, remember it better and build skills like time management and independence.

However, research shows that how you feel about homework depends on a few things. If you find your homework boring, it might be because the activity you’ve been given to do really is pretty boring. Not all homework is equal.

Curious Kids is a series by The Conversation that gives children the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.com and make sure you include the asker’s first name, age and town or city. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we’ll do our very best.

A worksheet that doesn’t connect to your lessons is not so helpful. A task that challenges you to think, create, or explore concepts and ideas is much better.

Teachers have to think hard about the tasks they set and how they explain them. If the task is explained clearly and if students get helpful feedback, the chance they will complete it is much higher. Teachers must also choose meaningful tasks help you see homework as part of learning – not just extra work.

Homework that’s creative or linked to your passions is more enjoyable. Then comes the idea of success. If the task feels impossible, it’s easy to give up. Finally, does it make sense? Homework that connects to what you learned in class feels more useful.

As a science teacher I would always try and set the homework early in the lesson rather than right at the end. Knowing what is going to be expected means that the children better understood the task and could link it to the work being done in the lesson.

How you do homework

Your attitude toward homework isn’t just about the task – it’s also about the people around you. If you have parents or guardians who encourage you, help you plan your time, or show interest in your work, this can make homework feel more positive. That said, there is research that shows that while it’s helpful for parents to ask whether you’ve done your homework, helping you do it isn’t actually useful.

Some children also face bigger challenges. Not everyone has a quiet space to work, or someone at home who can help. This is called the “homework gap” and it can make school feel unfair.

It’s up to schools whether they set homework, and some schools are rethinking homework altogether. They are looking to make it more accessible and creative. Some schools make homework optional rather than demand it for every subject. Schools are also looking at how they can make homework fair for everyone. This includes ideas such as homework clubs, where you can get help and work with friends.

Homework isn’t going away any time soon. But it doesn’t have to be a burden. When it’s well-designed, supported by teachers and parents, and connected to learning, it can help you grow – not just as a student, but as a thinker.

So next time you sit down with your homework, ask yourself: What can I learn from this? And if it feels too hard or pointless, speak up. Your voice matters.

James Williams, Emeritus reader in science education and communication, University of Sussex

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Why do we have tonsils????? – Ryan, age 10, Blacktown.

Thanks Ryan. I am guessing, based on the number of question marks you’ve used, that your tonsils might have caused you some trouble. You’re not alone.

The truth is that unless you are a baby, you don’t really need tonsils. Many people have them removed and live happily without them. I’ll tell you why, but first I have to explain what your tonsils actually are.

Waldeyer’s ring

The technical term for your tonsils is “palatine tonsils”, which means the tonsils of the palate. These lumpy things sit on either side at the back of our mouths. The palatine tonsils are one pair of a set of four tonsils that form a circle at the top of our throat.

At the back of our nose, we have the adenoids. They are another type of tonsil tissue, technically called the “nasopharyngeal tonsils”. There is also a blanket of tonsil tissue over the back of our tongue called the “lingual tonsils”, which we can’t normally see. The adenoids and the tonsils are linked by a thin strip of tonsil tissue on each side; these are called the “tubal tonsils”. Together this whole ring of tonsil tissue is called “Waldeyer’s ring”, named after a nineteenth century German anatomist.

Tonsils are important for immune defence

Waldeyer’s ring forms part of our immune system, along with our lymph glands (which are either side of your neck).

In early life, the lymph glands are not completely developed, and our bodies rely on our tonsils to trap bugs and foreign material that we either breathe in or swallow. By trapping these particles, the body begins to recognise them as potentially dangerous things and produces things called antibodies to kill them so they can’t harm us. Tonsil tissue is particularly good at trapping these particles as it has valleys and holes (called crypts) which increase its surface area.

Tonsil tissue is particularly important in the first six months of life. After this, our lymph glands take over most of the work and the tonsils are essentially out of a job.

Tonsil trouble

As we get older, food and germs can still land in the valleys and crypts. They can then cause infections to develop, which lead to a sore throat or tonsillitis. Some infections can also cause the tonsils to grow in size. Huge tonsils and adenoids can block the airway and cause snoring or swallowing and speech problems. As nutrition and immunisation has improved, kids get tonsillitis less and less these days. Usually, an ear nose and throat surgeon like me gets called in to intervene more for obstruction (blockage) than repeated infections.

Shrinking tonsils

If tonsils are a problem, an ear, nose and throat surgeon can remove them by doing an operation. If they are simply too large, they can be shrunk down using special instruments which remove the valleys and crypts. This leaves a thin bit of tonsil tissue behind.

Shrinking the tonsils down reduces the amount of pain kids get and also reduces the chances of bleeding after the operation. The downside is that, in rare cases, the bit we leave behind can get infected, or can regrow - although this is uncommon.

People sometimes worry that by removing the tonsils, we may be more likely to get infections. This is not actually the case. The lymph glands take over the role of protecting us.

If tonsils are too big or keep getting infected, they end up being more trouble than they’re worth.

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. They can:

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Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

Simon Carney, Professor of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Curious Kids is a series for children. Send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Why has nobody found any life outside of Earth? – Anna G, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney.

Anna, thank you for your amazing question.

Astronomers like us are hunting for “Earth-like” planets, but they’re not easy to find. And the conditions needed for life to exist have to be just right.

It’s likely that if such a planet exists, it will be outside our Solar System, and it’s very hard to study planets so far away.

But before we go on, it helps to remember how big the Universe is.

Our place in the Universe

Earth is inside our Solar System, along with the other planets (like Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter) orbiting a star we call the Sun.

But our Solar System is just one of many inside the huge Milky Way galaxy. And the Milky Way is just one of many, many galaxies in the Universe. Plus, we have no way of knowing exactly how big the Universe is beyond what we can directly see.

So while there may be life on other planets, it could be in another solar system in a different part of the Milky Way galaxy. Or in another galaxy far, far away.

We don’t have the technology yet to study such far away planets. But we are still trying to collect what clues we can using the technology we’ve got.

What makes a planet liveable? Follow the water

Much of the search for life has focused on trying to find liquid water, because it is essential for all life forms here on Earth.

Cells are mostly made up of water. Many of the chemical reactions that occur in our metabolism can only occur in the presence of water because it is an incredibly good solvent (meaning it will happily dissolve most things you put in it).

And water is very common. In fact, the components that make up water (hydrogen and oxygen) are the first and third most abundant elements in the Milky Way galaxy.

Oxygen loves grabbing onto other elements to make different chemicals. This means that we find water almost everywhere we look, from the surface of planets in our Solar System, to the depths of interstellar space.

But for life as we know it to exist, you would need a planet where water exists in a liquid state. Otherwise your cells would freeze or boil away.

Earth is in a perfect position from our Sun to support water in a liquid state. Astronomers call this ideal location from a star the “habitable” or “Goldilocks zone”.

Scientists last year discovered that there is permanent liquid water on Mars, which made a lot of people very excited. Water is also inside craters on Mercury, and there are vast water oceans on some of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons.

But we still haven’t found life on Mars, or any other planet in our Solar System.

What about outside our Solar System?

Planets outside our Solar System are called exoplanets. They orbit their own stars (as you know, our Sun is really just a big star).

For example, there is an exoplanet called Kepler-22b, which is in the habitable zone of another star called Kepler-22. Kepler 22b is bigger than Earth.

Fainter stars have habitable zones that are closer to them and brighter stars have their habitable zones further away.

Finding a world within a star’s habitable zone where liquid water can exist would be a great start to finding life. Unfortunately, we have not perfected the technology for it yet.

But finding a planet with the right conditions for life isn’t enough; we need to be able to detect signatures of life itself (scientists call these “biosignatures”). For example, we can look at a planet’s atmosphere and see what gases are in it. If we found a planet with lots of oxygen, we can infer there may be life there.

At the moment, it is not possible to detect biosignatures on Earth-like planets around others stars.

Maybe, Anna, you might be one of the scientists who develops the technology that makes all this possible, and will discover the first inhabited world beyond Earth.

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. You can:

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Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

Josh Calcino, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland and Jake Clark, PhD Candidate, University of Southern Queensland

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

When I swipe the matchstick how does it make fire? Thank you. – Laura, aged 5, Brisbane.

I’m glad you asked this, Laura. I have been interested in the science of fire and fireworks for a long time, and can tell you there is a lot happening in the very short time it takes to light a match.

But first I want to give an important warning: matches are dangerous and they shouldn’t be used without supervision. You can hurt yourself, your friends and family, destroy your home, or damage the environment.

Now, let’s get back to the science.

Friction

To learn how the match can catch fire, we first need to understand something called “friction”. Friction is when you rub two things together and it creates heat or warmth. Have you ever rubbed your hands together on a cold morning to warm them up? That’s friction.

(For the adults reading, friction converts kinetic energy into thermal energy.)

Friction is important for the first part of lighting a match. You rub the match head against the red strip on the side of the matchbox.

This strip on the box contains a bit of powdered glass to make it extra rough. Scratching the rough match head against the rough strip leads to friction. That creates just enough heat to start a series of chemical reactions.

Chemical reactions

You probably know about chemical reactions. That’s when one chemical interacts with another chemical, and a change occurs. Maybe you’ve added vinegar to bicarb soda to create a mini volcano. That’s a chemical reaction. Heat can help kick off some chemical reactions or make them happen faster.

There are a lot of chemical reactions involved in the lighting of a match.

Surprisingly, the first chemical to react is not on the match, it is on the box!

This chemical is called “red phosphorus”. To our eyes it just looks like a red powder. But if you zoomed right in to see how all its atoms are arranged, it would look like a bunch of triangles and other shapes stuck together into a long chain.

When you rub the match on the box, you get friction, which means you get heat. This heat causes a small amount of the red phosphorus chain to be broken apart.

When that happens, some of the red phosphorous changes into another chemical called “white phosphorus”. It reacts immediately with a gas in the air called oxygen. This will create a lot more heat.

So the story so far: the friction breaks the red phosphorous chain, which allows the white phosphorous to react with oxygen and the match starts to get hot.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Fuel + heat + oxygen = fire

You need three ingredients for a fire: fuel, heat, and oxygen.

Friction and white phosphorus have provided the starting heat, and now the match needs fuel and oxygen to continue to burn.

The fuel comes from the sulphur (that’s another chemical) and wax in the head of the match. It also comes from the wood in the matchstick.

When it comes to oxygen, the match has a secret supply. Stored inside the match head is another chemical called “potassium chlorate”. When it gets hot, it releases a lot of extra oxygen and heat. This makes the match head burn quickly and strongly.

When you put it all together – the heat, the fuel, and the oxygen – you get a flame! And amazingly, all this chemistry happens in a fraction of a second.

‘Strike anywhere’ matches

What I’ve described are safety matches, which are the kind you probably have at home.

But maybe you’ve seen an old cowboy movie, or a cartoon, where a character has lit a match with their boot, a wall, or something else that’s not a matchbox.

These matches are known as “strike anywhere” matches, and they work very similarly to safety matches.

The difference is that the phosphorus component is in the match head rather than on the box.

While this is convenient, it is also much more dangerous!

So please remember — any kind of match can be very, very dangerous, so never use them without adult supervision.

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au

Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.

Nathan Kilah, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This is an article from Curious Kids, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky! You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.

Could you please tell me how many dinosaurs in total lived on Earth during all periods? - Viren, age 6, Scotch College, Victoria.

This is a really great question.

The short answer is we know of about 900 valid dinosaur species that existed. “Valid” means scientists know the dinosaur from enough of the skeleton bones to feel pretty sure that it differs from all other known dinosaurs. There are hundreds of others which have been named, but are not considered “valid” as they were not based on well-enough preserved fossils.

To give you the long answer, first I need to explain what a dinosaur is, and when they lived.

What exactly is a dinosaur, anyway?

Dinosaurs were a group of medium to large reptiles that lived between 235 million years ago and 66 million years ago. Not many people know this, but the main thing that makes a dinosaur a dinosaur is their foot structure; they have a special kind of ankle joint. Their feet bones are like that of a bird.

Dinosaurs lived during three periods of geological time - the Triassic period (which was 252-201 million years ago), the Jurassic period (about 201-145 million years ago) and the Cretaceous period (145-66 million years ago). These three periods together make up the Mesozoic Era.

Just how many dinosaurs in total lived on Earth during the Mesozoic era is impossible to answer. One study by a Polish scientist called Jerzy Trammer estimated that the total dinosaur combined weight was greater than all the mammals on Earth today, but their individual numbers were much lower than species of today’s living mammals.

Birds are descended from one group of dinosaurs called the predatory theropods. Theropods have hollow bones and three-toed limbs. Dinosaurs from the Tyrannosaurus are a type of predatory theropods. So, technically speaking, all living birds are “living dinosaurs”.

Discovering dinosaurs

Megalosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs to be properly studied. It lived in the Jurassic Period, about 160 million years ago.

The English scientist Richard Owen created the word “dinosaur” in 1842, meaning “terrible lizard” because at the time he thought they were similar looking to large lizards. Today, we know they are not lizards, but a totally different kind of reptile.

Each year scientists dig up more new dinosaurs and get to name them. About 50 new dinosaurs are named every year.

I discovered a new dinosaur based on one bone in the museum collection in Perth. It came from the Geraldton region in Western Australia. It is Australia’s only named Jurassic theropod. I named it Ozraptor, meaning “the Lizard of Aus”.

As the fossil record of life is vastly incomplete, we can only guess that many, many more species existed - but we might never find their fossil remains.

At least we know that many new dinosaurs will continue to be found as expeditions keep going out searching for them every year. Most of the world’s new dinosaurs are coming from China, Mongolia and South America.

I’m really glad you are interested in dinosaurs. Who knows - maybe one day you will be part of an expedition that discovers a new dinosaur. If you found a new dinosaur, what would you name it?

Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. They can:

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John Long, Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.