In a talk that I think is a good illustration why science is not just an empirical enterprise, Jack Horner explores why we historically haven’t seen baby dinosaur bone displays.
via Jack Horner: Where are the baby dinosaurs? | Talk Video | TED.com.
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SelfAwarePatterns 
I’m glad my skull isn’t changing that drastically. Although if I keep acting up I could end up with horns.
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I haven’t watched the video yet, but… really? I could have swore we’d found baby dinosaur bones before.
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I think answering you would require spoilers. So…watch it?
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Ah, yes, I see now. A friend of mine came up with a great bumper sticker: “Science proceeds despite scientists.”
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Or perhaps “why we’ve historically never seen baby dinosaur bones” is overstating it.
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Good point. Just edited it to make it a little more accurate.
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If you’re short on time, there’s a transcript at the TED site, but I’ll give a spoiler: there aren’t as many dinosaur species of varying sizes as scientists used to think.
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It’s interesting that their bones change that much during their life span! I wonder if that’s in any way related to growing so large?
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If I recall correctly, he compared it to the way modern bird’s crests change. Which of course isn’t too surprising since we now know birds are miniature flying dinosaurs.
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That’s right, he did; good point. Our bones change during our lifetime, so maybe it’s not as surprising as it seemed.
My buddy’s wife has that tee-shirt: The Dinosaurs didn’t die out. They’re hiding in trees! Long ago when I first heard about dinosaurs and birds I thought, “A-ha! That explains why I’ve never really liked birds!”
Ferocious lizards peering out of those tiny, cold-blooded, feathered little eyes. I’m quite sure they remember when they ruled the Earth and very much resent the current state of affairs. Crows, in particular, are scary smart, and they’re just biding their time… waiting…
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You might like this SMBC. It seems to fit right along with your sentiment 🙂
http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3095
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Yes, I remember that one! XD
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An enjoyable talk, but some quick Googling suggests that Horner’s findings remain controversial, particularly regarding Torosaurus. Still, he’s probably right in some cases.
Horner has a reasonable hypothesis, but even if specimen A is juvenile and specimen B is mature, it does not follow that the two are the same genus, even if they are quite similar. Since it’s not so easy to tell if two specimens are the same genus or not, it’s probably safer (or at least reasonable) to create new names. At least then it’s easy to refer to the differences between specimens.
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Good point. It’s always easier to clump things together later than to pull them apart.
Unfortunately, paleontologists are reconstructing the past based on incomplete information. It seems inevitable that they’re going to group things that shouldn’t be grouped, or make distinctions that don’t exist. And argue endlessly over which is which.
I’m still getting used to the idea that many dinosaurs had feathers. When someone says “dinosaur”, I still think of the giant lizards I grew up looking at. I suspect there are probably still a lot of surprises to come.
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Reblogged this on Network UFO.
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