Scholars
Leading intellectuals in the fields of history, philosophy and science
South America’s First Dinosaur Tracks
Tracks now readily recognizable as belonging to dinosaurs were once attributed to prodigious birds and other creatures
July 21, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
How the Great White Egret Spurred Bird Conservation
I was certain that the bird's plumage had to have been faked, but all the photographer did was darken the background. Those feathers were real
July 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Truly Exceptional Allosaurus
Cope did not know it at the time, but he had described an especially large representative of a species his rival had named just a year before
July 14, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Dryptosaurus’ Surprising Hands
This enigmatic tyrannosauroid may have had the novel combination of short arms with big hands
July 11, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
A Visit to Douglass’ Dinosaur
The site became a must-see dinosaur landmark in 1957, and in a few months, visitors will once again be able to see the spectacular quarry wall
June 28, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Classics: Leidy’s Dinosaur Inventory
Contrary to a snarky review, this monograph is one of the most important works ever published in the history of vertebrate paleontology
June 27, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
A Visit to Dinosaur Court
See a gallery of images from a monument to a time when naturalists were only just beginning to understand prehistoric creatures
June 21, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Why Did the Standards Bureau Need These Heads?
The NIST Museum has placed images of several items on the website of its Digital Archives and is asking the public for help
June 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hidden Dinosaurs and Confusing Teeth
After many false starts, scientists finally understood the first fossils of horned dinosaurs
June 10, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Triceratops: An A+ Dinosaur
Paleontologists have recently learned how these three-horned dinosaurs fought, grew up and socialized
June 09, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Was Spinosaurus a Bison-Backed Dinosaur?
Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus were fundamentally different, and they remain among the most bizarre dinosaurs yet discovered
June 06, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Two Views on How to Make a Baby Sauropod
It took a long time—and a new understanding of sauropod lifestyles—to figure out whether they laid eggs or gave birth to live young
May 31, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
When Triceratops Was a Giant Bison
The giant with the "three-horned face" was originally mistaken for a very different creature
May 27, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Diplodocus Tripod
When paleontologists were still just becoming acquainted with the great dinosaurs of the American West, Charles R. Knight created a curious vision of the long-necked dinosaur Diplodocus
May 17, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Why I’m Not Sorry to See the Space Shuttle End
I have to say, when I think about the end of the Space Shuttle program, I'm really not that sorry to see it come to a close
May 16, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Delayed Tyrannosaurus Showdown
In 1913, paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History made plans for what would have been a spectacular reconstruction of a prehistoric battle. Too bad that their plans did not come to fruition.Tyrannosaurus rex—the most celebrated dinosaur of all time—made its debut at the AMNH. The f...
May 11, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Myth of the Eight-Spiked Stegosaurus
Everybody knows that Stegosaurus had four tail spikes. The formidable weapons this odd dinosaur sported were some of its most prominent features. Yet, when Stegosaurus was new to science, it seemed as if this dinosaur bristled with even more spikes. In 1891, the first full skeletal drawing of Stegosaurus ungulatus was created under the direction [...]
May 09, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Bringing Dinosaurs Up to Speed
Dinosaurs are ambassadors of paleontology. Much to the frustration of scientists who study plants, invertebrates, and even fossil mammals, the word "paleontologist" is closely associated with the image of scruffy researchers digging around for dinosaur bones. Despite the popularity of dinosaurs, th...
May 06, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
A 1980s Look at Smithsonian Dinosaurs
I thought that I had seen just about every major dinosaur documentary from the 1980s, but I just found out that I missed at least one: the Smithsonian Video Collection's Dinosaurs. It was one of many programs—like A&E's miniseries Dinosaur!—that were inspired by deep changes to what we thought ...
May 05, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
How Tyrannosaurus Lost a Finger
Everybody knows that Tyrannosaurus had small arms tipped in only two fingers. The relatively small arms of the Late Cretaceous predator are part of its charm. When paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn described Tyrannosaurus in 1905, however, the fingers and forearm of the dinosaur were missing. E...
May 03, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
