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	As an exhibition developer I have had a recurring nightmare—after  
finishing an exhibition—that scientists publish a paper that up ends  
the science basis of my latest exhibition. Over the years this has not  
happened However, this morning over coffee I read in the New York  
Times an article entitled Paper Challenges Ideas About ‘Early Bird’  
Dinosaur. This refers to the iconic Archaeoptyrx fossil that has been  
long held as a transitional form between reptiles (dinosaurs) and  
birds. I t has characteristics of reptiles and birds.  many of you  
know I have just finished an exhibition, Charlie and Kiwi' s  
Evolutionary Adventure which in large part is about the evolution of  
birds from dinosaurs and has apart of the story in several places  
references to archaeoptyrx; in fact has a replica of the slab fossil  
referred to in the NYTimes article and has a skeletal representation  
of Archaeoptyrx. Has my nightmare come true? Well, not so much.

More careful reading or the PLOS paper Was Dinosaurian Physiology  
Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx reveals  
that he authors were focusing on the metabolism in the organism as  
revealed in the lack of vascular tissue. In fact,

The present findings, based on the first direct histological evidence  
for Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds, shows incontrovertibly  
that these animals were very primitive, similar to their non-avialan  
dinosaur precursors – Archaeopteryx was simply a feathered and  
presumably volant dinosaur. Theories regarding the subsequent steps  
that lead to the modern avian condition need to be reevaluated in a  
scale dependent manner to help understand what is turning out to be a  
complex evolutionary story.

And, Author Mark Norell, a co-author who specializes in dinosaur  
research at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said  
the findings showed that "the transition to physiological and  
metabolic birds happened well after archaeopteryx."

So, what seemed like disaster early this morning turns out to be an  
example of the incremental way that science makes advances, as well as  
very interesting science. We have yet to know the complete story, if  
science ever offers a complete story of avian evolution.


Anyone else have similar nightmares??

Martin

References

New York Hall of Science Charlie and Kiwi's Evolutionary Adventure
http://www.nyscience.org/explore/traveling/ontour/Charlie

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/science/09fossil.html?ref=science

PLOS article
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007390

Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13519708



__________________
__________________
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation Consultant
mweiss at nysci dot org








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