Feather Dino Fossil

wyren writes "This story in the NYTimes (free req req'd) summarizes some findings published in the journal Nature about a recent dig in China. The article claims the find is the most complete skeleton to date with fossilized evidence of feathers. There have been previous similar finds but one researcher claims the superior quality of this specimen makes it the 'find we've been waiting for.'"

Comments

What will the ICU say?

[hypermanng]

The Institute of Creation Research and its dishonest fundamentalist members are probably going to pretend that this didn't happen. Duane Gish will go on claiming at debates that no transitionary fossils have been foudn between dinosaurs and birds, and so on.

What I worry is that people in general will hear this and say "so?" and forget about it like every other tidbit of science they've ever heard. Then later on they're going to be watching some well-funded, slickly-produced Creationist video that claims there aren't any known transitionary fossils and just swallow it. How else can Kansas be explained?

:-(

It's just good that most of the brain-disease known as creationism is confined to the USA and undeveloped countries where education is so poor people will actually fall for the literalist fundie crap.

Apteryx

[Conare]

"It's conceivable that smaller dinosaurs like this one and even the young of larger species like Tyrannosaurus rex may have needed featherlike body coverings to maintain their body temperature."

It's also conceivable that they needed feather like coverings to impress their girlfriends.