Dinosaurs had 'earliest feathers'

Hmm sounds like transitional fossils to me....

Satan put those feathers on there to trick the scientists. Kirk "Mike Seaver" Cameron told me so! He's like, a scientist and stuff.

We just watched a documentary about the similarities between dinosaurs and birds on the weekend. Was kind of interesting.

A little creepy the way they can "trick" old characteristics into reappearing in today's species though.

Come again?

They showed where a scientist would inject proteins, newly found in dinosaur bone matter, into chicken embryos. They had chickens hatching with feathers growing on their legs as prehistoric birds did, for example. They showed a few other characteristics being "brought back" as well in order to back up their theories.

Dormant gene sequences can apparently be reactivated in some circumstances. Meaning that you could potentially activate a lot of the dormant code in a chicken and end up with something resembling a Tyrranosaurus. More likely is you could tweak an elephant and end up with a mammoth.

The discovery of soft tissue in the bone matter has opened a few more doors again.

Ah, cool.

Exactly. Analyzing the proteins in a Tyrannosaur bone revealed that the closest living relative to that monster is the chicken.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/ ... s.taxonomy

Exactly. Analyzing the proteins in a Tyrannosaur bone revealed that the closest living relative to that monster is the chicken.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/ ... s.taxonomy

I take it you watched the program as well.

The first time I heard the story was in the Sacramento Bee. I have chickens so the thought of my Rhode Island Reds terrorizing the neighborhood was kind of amusing and memorable.