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First Flying Dinosaurs Had Biplane Structure

Posted by Zonk on from the made-little-whirring-noises-to-keep-going dept.

unchiujar writes to mention a BBC article about the design of the first flying dinosaurs. These possible early ancestors of avians apparently resembled biplanes in many ways, with legs hanging down in a fashion similar to WWI fighters. The researchers who made this discovery use this to argue the 'trees down' model of flight evolution, but the article points out this design may possibly be a failed evolutionary experiment. From the article: "Dr Chatterjee, from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, US, explained that two lines of evidence had led the team to this conclusion. Firstly, the researchers argue, dinosaurs and birds move their legs in a vertical plane, not sideways as the tandem flight pattern requires. Secondly, the feathers on Microraptor's hind legs are asymmetrical; one of the two vanes that extend either side of the shaft is narrower than the other. Aerodynamically, the narrow leading edge of these feathers should face forward in flight, against the direction of airflow. This would have given the flying reptiles lift. "

5 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not designed properly by Bazman · · Score: 5, Funny

    You'd think a flying spaghetti monster would have no trouble designing a flying thing...

  2. Samuel Jackson would be t3h p1ss3d by neuro.slug · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Enough is enough! I've had it with this muthafuckin' snakes lookin' like muthafuckin' planes!"

  3. Re:Not designed properly by danpsmith · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It is interesting that people who don't believe in design can't help themselves and use the word "design."

    It's not like the bunch of quacks that drummed up the "intelligent design" theory invented the word "design." Using it doesn't make anyone religious.

    --
    Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  4. And in fact... by Belial6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And in fact, the ID folks specifically chose to use the words they did specifically to illicit responses just like yours. They hoped that they could use the choice of words to create confusion and hopefully trick people so they couldn't tell the difference between science and fairy tales.

  5. Re:Not designed properly by Sloppy · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's probably a good thing the elder things' wing experiments had only limited success. On one hand, we might be able to fly, but on the other hand: flying shoggoths!

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