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Scientists Examine Dinosaur Skin
jd writes "Fossilized skin from a dinosaur in China is allowing paleontologists a better understanding of what dinosaur skin was like. A tear, caused by a predator, shows that below the scales of the Psittacosaurus was a thick hide comprised of 25 layers of collagen. Other than the multitude of layers, this is very similar in nature to modern shark skin. The gash caused by a predator allowed the skin and the soft interior to be fossilized along with the bones. This is not the same dinosaur that had been reported previously on Slashdot, which was found in South Dakota, although the process and extent of fossilization is very similar."
This is not the same dinosaur that had been reported previously on Slashdot
;-)
Somebody's a bit sensitive about dupes
Table-ized A.I.
Reading the 'Origin of Species' gives great insight into those ideas. It's gives pretty interesting explanations (though a bit outdated) on why some species seem to revert to old forms (such as why whales look like fish), and why some useful features stay the same through the ages seemingly unchanged. Go on, get it and take it one idea at a time. It's available to everyone as a free audiobook or free text
Give Kashyyyk back to the Wookies
Great, thanks! Cause every time someone jokes about creationism, God goes back to the Jurassic and kills a dinosaur!
You just got troll'd!
If only they'd built them with 26 layers!
You mean we can mount a frikking laser on them?
A tear, caused by a predator, shows that below the scales of the Psittacosaurus was a thick hide comprised of 25 layers of collagen.
It's like I always say, 25 layers of collagen just isn't enough if you can't outrun your predators.
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
What do you think God was doing when dinosaurs are joking about creationism?
Right... and we're clever indeed...
First, life has gone through BILLIONS of years, not just million. Secondly, mammals and reptiles are very closely related. And finaly, (almost ?) all multicellular species that existed in the last 2 billion years use collagen to make their cells stick together.
More interesting is a question how much earlier than europeans chinese began fossilizing their dinosaurs
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
Additionaly "Climbing Mount Improbable" by Richard Dawkins gives a great overview of the various eye in the animal kingdom. Interesting bits are how the eye apparently developed along several lines, and how a choice made early in evolution can hardly be undone, such as the blood vessels being in front of the retina in the eyes of vertrebrates. (Or wait, God did that to protect the retina.)