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Dinosaur With Mature Feathers Uncovered in China
AP via Fox News ^ | 3/6/2002

Posted on 03/06/2002 12:32:35 PM PST by CholeraJoe

Edited on 04/22/2004 12:32:43 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Paleontologists working in China say they have unearthed the first fossil of a dinosaur that appeared to have mature feathers identical to those of modern birds, including long, showy plumage on its tail and hind legs.

The U.S.-Chinese research team said the 3-foot fossil should settle once and for all the debate over whether birds and dinosaurs are related.


(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevolist; evolution
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To: Nebullis
Somewhat dismayed to see Schopf's findings questioned. I love quoting his 1999 book, Cradle of Life. (The fossils still look like cyanobacteria to me.)

The Man Left Africa Three Times article is also free.

101 posted on 03/06/2002 6:25:23 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: jennyp
But your argument boils down to this: Each structure (feathers in this case) must be perfect or they'll be completely useless. That is clearly wrong.

My argument(s) boil down to this:

One, that natural selection could not select on the basis of future or hoped-for functionality, so that this unidirectional long march from an arm to a fully functional wing on a flying bird is not possible. All you'd ever get would be a random walk around the norm for an arm and, in fact, that pretty much parallell's the experience of the people doing the fruit fly experiments in the early 1900's. All they ever got was random walks around the norm for fruit flies. Despite every effort and years of mutating and then recombining mutations in an animal which produces new generations every few days, all they ever got was fruit flies. They never got the unidirectional march to some other kind of creature, as macroevolution demands.

Two, is that the various features required for any new kind of animal could not plausibly all evolve at the same time and that, while the second such was evolving, the first would be de-evolving. In real life, when you don't use something, you quickly lose it. Thus we observe what wings look like on penguins and ostriches, which do not use them for flight.

That reality would be totally sufficient to prevent a therapod dinosaur from ever becoming a flying bird by any combination of mutations and selection.

Could some intelligent process have re-engineered flying birds from therapods? The answer is clearly yes and some of the evidence appears to support the idea.

102 posted on 03/06/2002 6:35:55 PM PST by medved
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To: Sgt_Schultze
Good observation!! Never even thought of that. I guess a T. rex with feathers and a case of diarrhea could bury the average car!
103 posted on 03/07/2002 5:08:04 AM PST by ZULU
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To: medved
Here I'm going to quote from Planet Earth, a nice coffee-table-type scientific book.

Why did Jesus cross the road?

Because he was nailed to a chicken!

No, wait, that's Kinky Friedman.

Be right back with the correct reference.

104 posted on 03/07/2002 5:08:55 AM PST by txhurl
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To: jennyp
Feathers
105 posted on 03/07/2002 12:29:51 PM PST by Nebullis
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To: VadeRetro
The fossils still look like cyanobacteria to me.

Remarkable.

106 posted on 03/07/2002 12:30:44 PM PST by Nebullis
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To: Nebullis
If I'm wrong, I'm not alone.
107 posted on 03/07/2002 1:41:22 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Nebullis

108 posted on 03/07/2002 1:43:50 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Nebullis

109 posted on 03/07/2002 1:44:42 PM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Nebullis
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v416/n6876/images/416036a-f1.2.jpg

oooh, those are some SEXY looking mature feathers on what is clearly a theropod dinosaur! There's a clear central shaft, and tiny lateral filaments jutting out from it, going all the way down the shaft to the end.

110 posted on 03/07/2002 8:47:28 PM PST by jennyp
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To: jennyp

111 posted on 03/07/2002 8:53:56 PM PST by antaresequity
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To: antaresequity
Yeah, that's the one!
112 posted on 03/07/2002 9:36:07 PM PST by jennyp
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To: VadeRetro
Remarkable because

1) Schopf has already conceded that NONE of his ancient fossils are cyanobacteria

2) Even the experts are disagreed over the difference between chert artifacts and bacterial fossils.

113 posted on 03/08/2002 4:26:52 AM PST by Nebullis
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To: Nebullis
That's still what they look like to me.
114 posted on 03/08/2002 5:05:54 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro
Brazen on, you lawyerly huckster! :)
115 posted on 03/08/2002 7:47:41 AM PST by Nebullis
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To: antaresequity
After an intensive and exhaustive search, I finally uncovered the top secret photo of what the "Dinosaur with Mature Feathers" really looked like....


116 posted on 03/08/2002 8:04:20 AM PST by RMDupree
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To: RaceBannon
....there is NO chain of evidence it evolved from anything, nor is there any chain of evidence anything evolved from IT either !!

Damn! Now there's two more gaps to fill!

117 posted on 03/08/2002 8:14:09 AM PST by edsheppa
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