Students can learn more about planetary nomenclature at the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . Then have students name the discovery. They should be able to explain and defend the name that they choose. Extending the Problem Dinosaurs Dinosaurs have long intrigued many people. The recent BBC series and this summer's Disney blockbuster on dinosaurs have both drawn large audiences.
Students can take a virtual tour of the exhibit at Sue at The Field Museum .
Within a known species, individual fossils are often named for the individual who discovered them. The unique 1993 find of a fossilized dinosaur heart caused a stir last spring when a CT scan revealed that it has four highly developed chambers and a single arched aorta, resembling a bird heart. The Name Game Following a set of rules is only one step in naming things. Someone still has to come up with a name. In fields from astronomy to zoology, names have as much to do with scoring political points, maintaining arcane traditions, settling scores, and making bad jokes as they do with labeling things in an unambiguous manner, which is supposedly their purpose.