Show and Tell is guaranteed to produce some real gems over the years. But none tops that of a 10-year-old Briton who brought along a 300-million-year-old fossil he found while holidaying in on the coast of Cornwall.
According to an article in the Digital Journal, Bruno Debattista, a primary student from Oxford, had a hunch that the fossil was of a footprint.
And the pre-history buff was right on the money when he showed off his find at an after-school club at Oxford University's museum of natural history.
“Footprints of this age are incredibly rare and extremely hard to spot, so we were amazed when Bruno produced them at our After-School Club,” said museum education officer Chris Jarvis. “Still more impressive is the fact Bruno had a hunch they might be some kind of footprints, even though the specimen had some of our world expert geologists arguing about it over their microscopes."
It's thought that the footprints belonged to mating horseshoe crabs, dating back to the Carboniferous period, around 308 to 327 million years ago.
Well, now you know. Debattista has kindly donated his fossil to the museum for display. Talk about history at your fingertips. Should encourage the pint-sized archeologist in your household to find something a little more exciting during the next local dig than a crusty old dog doo.
What's the best thing you've seen at a Show and Tell?
Whole lotta head shaking going on about this story about a mom who reportedly left her her baby in the car with a note while she popped to the shops.
An article in the New Zealand Herald claims police have no plans to investigate since there were no leads about the unidentified woman. So far no one has come forward with information.
Shoppers at Porirua Pak'n Save spotted the baby in the car park at 9am on Saturday, with a note on its blanket, written as if from the infant's perspective, saying my mom is out shopping and left a cell number to call "if there were any issues."
What, so now the world at large is your babysitter?
Although the mom could be fined for leaving a child unattended, police admitted it's highly unlikely that the incident would result in criminal charges against the mom. In fact, parents who leave kids unattended in vehicles are rarely prosecuted.
The couple who noticed the note waited a while to see if the mom would come back within a few minutes. Then they called the number. They noted, for what it's worth, that the baby looked well cared for.
"Babies can dehydrate quickly and become very distressed," warned Plunket national child safety adviser Sue Campbell in the Herald. "So for a newborn that's one of the key issues. Plus there's a security issue—a small baby is unable to defend itself if need be, or call for help, or anything like that."
Sure, being a new mom is overwhelming, and many of us have little support. But we all manage in our way, and we do so (mostly) without eschewing common sense and responsibility.
Do you think what the mom did was excusable?
Kudos to Steven and Chris, the guys behind the best kind of makeover. This Thursday, they are hosting a very special makeover for mom Lana Hill who tragically lost her 13-year old daughter Kelsey to a brain tumour.
Printer-friendly version