Kids in Japan Discover a New Fossil Species

News, it seems, is so often so serious. So it’s great when a story comes along that’s just plain fun and joyful! Such is the news out of Japan, where a teacher attempting to teach kids science has elevated them into the ranks of fullfledged scientists.

According to The Japan Times, for nearly 30 years teacher Hiroaki Aiba has been passing around chunks of rock he’s received from the Konoha Fossils Museum as a hands-on class activity. He wants to give students the same thrill professional paleontologists get when cracking open a rock and discovering a fossilized creature hidden inside. Most often those critters have been common and rather ordinary, but when high schooler Kota Yatagai cracked open his rock, the exquisitely preserved dung beetle staring up at him was entirely new to science! It’s been named Ceratophyus yatagaii, forever honoring the boy who brought the extinct insect to light.

As for Aiba, he too has been honored. Alongside researcher David Král (Charles University, Czech Republic), Aiba serves as the first author of a paper describing the new beetle in the scientific journal Paleontological Research.