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Ever Smell T-Rex's Breath?
Jim Hawkins writes "Well, in case you never have the chance of getting up close and personal with a T.Rex, Dale Air, a company who 'nose' its smells, has recreated Tyrannosaurus Rex's breath for London's Natural History Museum. Seems people made a stink about the rotting flesh smell that would exist on T-Rex's breath - guess someone forgot to tell him to brush his teeth."
Still waiting for that cure for cancer.
His breath would be affected by the diet of the animals he ate, as well - how do they know the exact content of a herbiverous dinosaur's diet?
T-Rex breath turned out so accurate and so revolting, the curators instead opted for a milder swamp smell to evoke the creature's natural habitat.
Revolting is beleivable, but accurate? Do we really know enough about T-Rex's to say that the synthetic breath that was created was accurate? What bacteria lived in the mouth? Did the saliva have antibodies to protect open wounds around the mouth from bacteria and infection? What was the pH of the saliva? These all affect breath . . .
There are lots of unknowns that make me think that the journalist's use of the word accurate is more than a little presumptuous. . .
It is amazing that a species that can't pick itself up from a fall could survive past a single generation. But, I'm sure there are other species with this fault. It just sounds like a bad trait to have.
The degree of conjecture necessary to claim an odor represents the breath scent of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is enormous. To the point that, when all the approximations and educated guesses are accounted for, it is likely you're wrong.
At least demonstrate the scientific process with subject matter that will stand up to modest scrutiny.
My friends on the Atkins diet have breath that smells just like what I would expect the T-Rex's to smell like...
ewww...
TTFN