Yay science! Great news from the journal Nature this week. Douglas Theobald from Brandeis University (who writes for TalkOrigins from time to time) has published a paper that, for the first time, tests the theory of universal common ancestry. This a central part of the theory of descent with modification via natural selection (or evolution, for short), and while most scientists had accepted the notion that all known living organisms share a common ancestor at the base of the tree of life, no one had actually gone about formally testing the idea.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cracked.com's "7 Dinosaurs You Could Take in a Fight"
My friend Susan over at Crurotarsi: The Forgotten Archosaurs recently posted a link to CRACKED.com's "The 10 Lamest Dinosaur Names" before I could get myself together with a post, so I wanted to beat her to the punch with this one.
CRACKED.com's "7 Dinosaurs You Could Take in a Fight"
While I have to admit that Compsagnathus, Archaeopteryx, Microraptor, and Epidendrosaurus might not be able to inflict a terrible amount of damage on your average human (given the impossible scenario that a human would ever encounter one), I still think they'd be able to get a quick bite or scratch in there if you aggravated them. Nigersaurus could definitely break a few bones if it bumped into you, but as long as you didn't run up to it screaming your head off and flailing your arms, it would probably remain pretty calm and go about its business. But Therizinosaurus would definitely put the hurt on you with its meter long, scythe-like claws. It's reasonable to believe they used them to fend off predators, and I'm sure they were pretty effective defensive weapons. And Carnotaurus would probably straight up eat you. The unnamed dinosaur they advise not to harass is Masiakasaurus. I probably wouldn't recommend it either, even though its dentition indicates it probably fed on fish and small mammals.
Still, it's a great article for any paleo enthusiast, and there are a couple really good zingers in there. Thanks CRACKED.com!
CRACKED.com's "7 Dinosaurs You Could Take in a Fight"
While I have to admit that Compsagnathus, Archaeopteryx, Microraptor, and Epidendrosaurus might not be able to inflict a terrible amount of damage on your average human (given the impossible scenario that a human would ever encounter one), I still think they'd be able to get a quick bite or scratch in there if you aggravated them. Nigersaurus could definitely break a few bones if it bumped into you, but as long as you didn't run up to it screaming your head off and flailing your arms, it would probably remain pretty calm and go about its business. But Therizinosaurus would definitely put the hurt on you with its meter long, scythe-like claws. It's reasonable to believe they used them to fend off predators, and I'm sure they were pretty effective defensive weapons. And Carnotaurus would probably straight up eat you. The unnamed dinosaur they advise not to harass is Masiakasaurus. I probably wouldn't recommend it either, even though its dentition indicates it probably fed on fish and small mammals.
Still, it's a great article for any paleo enthusiast, and there are a couple really good zingers in there. Thanks CRACKED.com!
Sunday, May 09, 2010
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