19 May 2015
Since birds are the only surviving members of the family tree of the dinosaurs, why can t we flip some switches in the genetic code and return a chicken back to its former glory as a dinosaur?
(Image credit: Karl Tate, LiveScience.com Contributor)
Talk of a chickenosaurus lit up the science world last week when researchers announced they had modified the beak of a chicken embryo to resemble the snout of its dinosaur ancestors. But although some experts have lauded the feat, a beak is just one of many modifications needed to revert a chicken into a dinosaur.
Given these obstacles, how close are scientists to creating a dino-chicken?
The inner ear of an ancient reptile offers a promising entry point to two particular phenomena: how dinosaurs interacted with each other and how they began to fly.
According to a new study, the shape of the inner ear offers reliable signs as to whether an animal soared gracefully through the air, flew only fitfully, walked on the ground, or sometimes went swimming. In some cases, the inner ear even indicates whether a species did its parenting by listening to the high-pitched cries of its babies.
“Of all the structures that one can reconstruct from fossils, the inner ear is perhaps that which is most similar to a mechanical device,” Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, an assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences at Yale University and an assistant curator at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Alex WongGetty Images
(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog’s Favourite Living Canadian)
The latest hot topic in conservative political circles is a variation on the old theme of how people who are not independently wealthy enough never to work a day in their lives are basically lazy parasites who want something for nothing. This particular line of argument, which is usually enlivened by a tangy taste of racism, always has been popular with the American right. Now, it’s getting another nationwide workout. From Yahoo! Finance: The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said in a statement on Friday. One step policymakers should take now is ending the $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit. Based on the Chamber’s analysis, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients