NationStates Jolt Archive

Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7081166.stm)


Your thoughts?

Birds are, indeed, the only dinosaurs surviving today -- in a "pocket size edition", but still.

P.S. Cannot open link. BBC banned in China.

Your thoughts?

That this does not impact my life in any measurable way what so ever? :p

That this does not impact my life in any measurable way what so ever? :p

lol, true, but I did think it was interesting. :p

That this does not impact my life in any measurable way what so ever? :p

Let's see if you're still saying that when your throat gets ripped out by carnivorous dinosaur-penguin-birds.

Interesting. Makes sense, but it's not all that surprising. I bet other processes work similarly between modern birds and extinct dinosaurs as well.

Interesting. Makes sense, but it's not all that surprising. I bet other processes work similarly between modern birds and extinct dinosaurs as well.

I agree.

They need to quite finding out all this science stuff. Its making dinosaurs seem like big pussies. I mean, would you be scared of penguins and turkeys? Down with science! Forward with science fiction!

Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7081166.stm)


Your thoughts?
Good good. Another brick in the wall there.
Birds are, indeed, the only dinosaurs surviving today -- in a "pocket size edition", but still.

P.S. Cannot open link. BBC banned in China.
You can get an emu in your pocket? 0_o

I'm no dinosaurologist but aren't crocodiles essentially dinosaurs?

EDIT: Apparently not (http://www.txtwriter.com/backgrounders/Dinosaurs/dinoBG3.html) :(

I'm no dinosaurologist but aren't crocodiles essentially dinosaurs?

Well, crocodiles originally appeared during the Triassic Period, which is also when the dinosaurs made their debut; not sure how closely related they are, though.

This is news? Paul demonstrated this in '02, and it was known before then as well.

Well, crocodiles originally appeared during the Triassic Period, which is also when the dinosaurs made their debut; not sure how closely related they are, though.

Both are archosaurs. Crocodiles are the sister clade to the ornithodires, if I remember correctly. If not, they're the sister clade to the next step up. Ornithosuchia, I think the name is.

Birds are, indeed, the only dinosaurs surviving today -- in a "pocket size edition", but still.

P.S. Cannot open link. BBC banned in China.

Wait.. The BBC is banned but NSG isn't!? Is anyone else offended by this?

You can get an emu in your pocket? 0_o


I can get an Emu in my pocket. The question is why can't you?

Dinosaurs breathed, just like penguins, yes they did.

They seethed, just like penguins, yes they did.

They teethed, just like penguins, yes they did.

But they flew away, like little birds.

Birds are, indeed, the only dinosaurs surviving today -- in a "pocket size edition", but still.

P.S. Cannot open link. BBC banned in China.

Behold, as quick as you can say "Free Tibet".......(with every bag of crisps)
Dinosaurs like Velociraptors owe their fearsome reputation to the way they breathed, according to a UK study.
They had one of the most efficient respiratory systems of all animals, similar to that of modern diving birds like penguins, fossil evidence shows.

It fuelled their bodies with oxygen for the task of sprinting after prey, say researchers at Manchester University.

The bipedal meat-eaters, the therapods, had air sacs ventilated by tiny bones that moved the ribcage up and down.

"Finding these structures in modern birds and their extinct dinosaur ancestors suggests that these running dinosaurs had an efficient respiratory system and supports the theory that they were highly active animals that could run relatively quickly when pursuing their prey," said Dr Jonathan Codd, who led the research.

"It provides a mechanism for facilitating avian-like breathing in non-avian dinosaurs and it was there long before the evolution of flight occurred," he told BBC News.

Bony projections

Modern-day birds have a highly specialised respiratory system, made up of a small rigid lung and around nine air sacs.

The bellows-like movement of the sternum and ribs moves air through the system.


Bony projections on the ribcage known as uncinate processes play an important role in both respiration and locomotion.

The small bones act as levers to move the ribs and sternum during breathing. They have become adapted in different types of birds to deal with different ways of getting around.

The bones are shortest in runners like emus that don't need large breast muscles for flight, intermediate in flying birds and longest in divers such as the penguin.

The Manchester team studied a wealth of fossil remains of dinosaurs and extinct birds such as Archaeopteryx, and compared these with skeletons of living birds.

They found that uncinate processes are also found both in the extinct ancestors of birds, the theropod dinosaurs, and in modern species.

Dinosaurs are most like diving birds in their morphology.

"The dinosaurs we studied from the fossil record had long uncinate processes similar in structure to those of diving birds," said Dr Codd.

"This suggests both dinosaurs and diving birds need longer lever arms to help them breathe," he added.

The data, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, may provide clues to how dinosaurs evolved and how they might have lived.

This is news? Paul demonstrated this in '02, and it was known before then as well.
Is this the Paul who've you've mentioned before and I've totally forgotten the rest of his name? Actually, I think the BBC News website Science editor knows someone in the Palaeo dept at Manchester Uni, judging by the number of stories coming out of there...
Trilby63;13195549']I can get an Emu in my pocket. The question is why can't you?
Is that an Emu in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? :D

Ive got an emo in my pocket.
Theres not much air, its dark and dreary, and quite miserable in there.
It should be quite happy.

Is this the Paul who've you've mentioned before and I've totally forgotten the rest of his name? Actually, I think the BBC News website Science editor knows someone in the Palaeo dept at Manchester Uni, judging by the number of stories coming out of there...
Gregory S. Paul. And yeah, it is.

I am now very scared of penguins.

It's very interesting, although I've never been much of a dinosaur person. That link, however, did tell me something I never wanted to know about crocodiles:
the anus is a longitudinal (lengthwise) slit
:(

What do I think?

I think that the quote "Velociraptor: More like a penguin than we thought" is the BEST QUOTE EVER!

Dinosaurs breathed, just like penguins, yes they did.

They seethed, just like penguins, yes they did.

They teethed, just like penguins, yes they did.

But they flew away, like little birds.

I...really enjoyed that.

They need to quite finding out all this science stuff. Its making dinosaurs seem like big pussies. I mean, would you be scared of penguins and turkeys? Down with science! Forward with science fiction!

I was originally going to post something like, "In my day, dinosaurs were scally scary beasts, not these feathered, penguin like clowns of your youth! We had something to be afraid of!"

But I have to admit, breathing through its chest cavity so that it can run faster and longer, even if it's like a penguin, thats some terrifying shit.

Trilby63;13195548']Wait.. The BBC is banned but NSG isn't!? Is anyone else offended by this?

I'm a bit disappointed. I'll have to redouble my efforts. :)

Trilby63;13195548']Wait.. The BBC is banned but NSG isn't!? Is anyone else offended by this?

BBC on the Net has been banned since I came in 2004.

We had BBC on cable until their report of a woman forced to abort in the 7th month of pregnancy (more of an induce premature/partial stillbirth). It was cancelled 4 days after that. So were (at hte same time) a Japanese programme half in English half in Japanese and the French TV 5. We're stuck with 68 Chinese programmes, one of which is 24 hours news in English with occasional talk shown on political and social issues.

They even covered the same failed "one child policy" quite critically, so I really do not see why BBC was banned.

Hmm. Fascinating. I look forward to seeing what other parallels scientists discover between birds and dinosaurs.

Hmm. Fascinating. I look forward to seeing what other parallels scientists discover between birds and dinosaurs.Technically, birds are dinosaurs.

My thoughts:That ain't much.

My thoughts:

Velociraptors; They'll rip out your throat then dive for fish!