Wednesday, July 15, 2009

New Dinosaur Species Discovered

Austrailia finally has its first significant dinosaur find in almost three decades with the discovery of a 98-million-year-old giant velociraptor, and a couple of titanosaurs:

...the theropod, from the tyrannosaurus rex family, [compares] to the velociraptors made famous in 1993's "Jurassic Park", only "many times bigger and more terrifying".

"He could run down most prey with ease over open ground. His most distinguishing feature was three large slashing claws on each hand...Unlike some theropods that have small arms...His arms were a primary weapon."

The plant-eat[ers] belong to the giant titanosaur family, the biggest creatures ever to walk the earth.

"These discoveries are a major breakthrough in the scientific understanding of prehistoric life in Australia,"

"Many hundreds more fossils from this dig await preparation and there is much more material left to excavate,"


And in the red corner, we have scientists out in the field, making discoveries, incorporating them into other findings, and working with other scientists to validate their evidence. And in the blue corner, we have the creationists, fingers in their ears, eyes closed, chanting "the fossils don't validate evolution", and claiming every bit of science supports their views. Who's your money on?

2 comments:

parakeet said...

"fingers in their ears, eyes closed, chanting "the fossils don't validate evolution"

It was an exciting find, but how did it validate evolution?

ScienceAvenger said...

The point was that what this particular fossil find tells us about evolution is something we'd never have the slightest clue about were we to depend on the creationists for it. They are the equivalent of a group who levies furious criticism on the opinions of professional mountain climbers on proper mountain climbing techniques, while themselves never bothering to climb any mountains.

I await, with great eagerness, this headline:

"Creationist (IDer, Creation Scientist, Academic Freedom Fighter, whatever label they like this week) research team working in shitty location X for Y hours uncovered surprising evidence for [yet unknown theory]. Scientist A from a related field says "This will open up a whole new field of research for us", while Professor G at the nearly hghly acclaimed university says "This solves a riddle we have wrestled with for decades."

We'll never see it, because creationsts don't do science, and they don't keep up with science. But the gang that found this fossil does, and did.