Beyond Bones

  The controversy about whether famous dinosaurs had feathers has been raging for a while now. We’ve known that some dinosaurs had feathers ever since Archaeopteryx was discovered in 1861, but more recent discoveries of the presence of feather-like structures on larger dinosaurs ( like Lane the Triceratops here at HMNS) that are more distantly related to […]

by Karen Whitley Hey there, devoted fans! Archie checking in. I can’t wait to tell you about my last adventure abroad. After packing up from my last adventure to jolly ol’ England, I said “Cheers!” to the United Kingdom and boarded the Eurostar to France! Parlez-vous français anyone? Yeah, me neither, unfortunately. The Chunnel was great, zooming […]

Congregationalist Minister, Director of the Massachusetts Geological Survey, and First to Prove that Dinosaurs Had Feathers. Part Two: U-boats and the Knuckle Decipherment.(Read Part One Here) Ferocious Flat-foots frighten second grader. A cartoon from Punch 1855 shows three dinosaurs restored at the Crystal Palace as big-shouldered and flat-footed. Supposedly kids were dragged kicking and screaming […]

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s reading books about the dinosaur “orthodoxy.” According to this traditional view, the dinos died out at the end of the Cretaceous because their beloved swamps dried up and the air became too cool. But the new conditions were perfect for us quick-thinking Mammalia, so we took over, along […]

“Attention all Dino-Nerds! Put Your Anatomical Expertise to Work. Prestigious Careers Await in the Field of Gastroenterology.*” Often, I get approached by parents who fret over their dino-fixated kid. “You gotta help us, Doc. All she wants to do is read about fossils. Will she ever find a respectable career in the real world?” I can […]

Fish Pieced Together by Committee Our HMNS at Sugar land exhibition on Archaeopteryx is festooned with splendid finny fossils, the ichthyological gems of the Late Jurassic. Some of the Jurassic fish were new comers, recently evolved clans that were poised to conquer the watery ecosystem. Teleosts are one such progressive group.  But there are Jurassic […]

Last week a version of the show ‘Archaeopteryx: Icon of Evolution‘ arrived at the Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land.  There are around 70 authentic fossils on display including the Geosaurs, Guitar Fish, several fossilized corals, insects, fish, plants and a cast of the Thermopolis Archaeoptertyx. Check out the HMNS exhibit in Focus On: The Thermopolis Archaeopteryx [Pete […]

Archaeopteryx: Icon of Evolution is coming back, a week from tomorrow! Don’t miss the exhibit as it flies into the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Sugar Land, opening Oct. 22, 2010. Famed paleontologist Bob Bakker provides more insight into this unique fossil. The Reverend Edward Hitchcock – The Man Who Predicted Archaeopteryx – a Quarter Century […]

1859: Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species.” Other scientists had proposed evolutionary theories before but Darwin was the first to work up a detailed case of how natural processes could transform one species into another. Darwin claimed that even Classes could change – for example, the Class Reptilia could evolve into the Bird […]

Our Archaeopteryx show has bedazzling fossils – the only Archaeopteryx skeleton in the New World, complete with clear impressions of feathers. Plus frog-mouthed pterodactyls, fast-swimming Sea Crocs, and slinky land lizards. Today we learn the different ways in which wings evoloved on various prehistoric creatures. Solnhofen show us three ways for Darwinian processes to construct […]