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Date: | Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:57:53 -0400 |
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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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
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Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation Consultant
mweiss at nysci dot org
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