Diverse perspectives on science and medicine
It’s a very exciting time to be a paleontologist interested in horned dinosaurs. New species are being described at an incredible rate. But, it’s not the fact that they are new that’s important–it’s what the fossils say
Horned dinosaurs (ceratopsians) just can’t catch a break when it comes to their fossilized eggs. The first purported examples turned up in Mongolia during the 1920s, attributed to Protoceratops. A few unlucky “Protoceratops” eggs were fossilized next to the
As we enter 2015, it’s a good time to reflect on the state of paleontology and the state of open access. Because I’m a dinosaur paleontologist (my apologies to the other 99% of life that
In my previous post, I introduced Aquilops, a new little dinosaur from ancient Montana, and talked about some of the science behind establishing its identity. Here, I want to step back (or is that look down?)
Today, several colleagues and I named a really cute little dinosaur—Aquilops americanus. At around 106 million years old, Aquilops turns out to be the oldest “horned” dinosaur (the lineage including Triceratops) named from North America, besting the
I tend to think of fish brains as fairly unremarkable. Too simple relative to mammal brains, too un-dinosaur-y relative to dinosaur brains. Shark and perch brains get a brief nod in many comparative anatomy classes,
“Swimming sausage topped with armored mustard” is probably the best way to describe a hupehsuchian. These marine reptiles, known only from 248 million year old rocks in east-central China, were odd-balls at a time when
The name “moa” inevitably conjures up pictures of giant, lumbering bird-beasts, destined for extinction at the hands of humans. For fans of paleontological history, we usually recollect the grumpy looking Victorian era paleontologist Richard Owen,
Prehistoric marine reptiles were a weird lot, especially in light of their lizard-like ancestors on land. You take something that roughly looks like an iguana, and evolve it into the shape of a dolphin (icthyosaurs),
The long-necked sauropod dinosaurs are perhaps the most culturally iconic prehistoric animals, appearing in everything from the Flintstones cartoons to the Sinclair gas station logo. The first live dinosaur glimpsed by the paleontologists in Jurassic