New Dinosaur Discovered: "Thunder Thighs"

A new type of dinosaur was recently discovered in Utah. The bones of the dino have been in a museum in Utah for about 10 years, but it was not until recently that paleontologists like Matt Wedel and Mike Taylor took a second look at the bones and unearthed their mystery. The bones belong to a new species of sauropod named Brontomerus mcintoshi, brontomerus literally meaning "thunder thighs" and mcintoshi after John "Jack" Mcintoshi, a world authority on sauropods. The bones belonged to two separate dinosaurs; a larger adult dino (6 tons, 14 meters in length, about the size of an elephant) and a smaller juvenile (200 kg, 4.5 meters, pony-sized) are thought to be a mother and her young. The special feature of this dinosaur is its unusually large hip bone, definitely much larger than that of any other sauropod. The enlarged hip bone protrudes forward, and it is suspected that this animal had very powerful leg muscles (hence the name "thunder thighs") that would have been used for defense against predators and for flattering the ladies ;-]

While the Brontomerus mcintoshi's unusual hip structure and abnormally large thigh muscles place it in the list of most extreme dinos, this discovery is significant for another reason. For the longest time, it was believed and accepted that sauropods were the most prosperous during the Jurassic Age, but died off during the Early Cretaceous Period. In the last 20 years however, new discoveries, including this one, place sauropods in the Early Cretaceous Period as a diverse and fruitful family. It is still believed, however, that they were much less abundant during the Early Cretaceous Period than they were during the Jurassic Age.

I found this new discovery interesting and honestly rather humorous because of the literal meaning of the dinosaur's name. I'm not really into paleontology that much, so I figured most dinosaurs had already been discovered and all were present and accounted for. To see that new dinos are being discovered even today, 110 million years after their existance, is pretty overwhelming. But like I said, the title "Thunder Thighs" is what really caught my eye.

Article found here!

Water on the Moon!

here is an interesting article from the NYTimes, describing the discovery of water on the moon. while not directly about biology (noone has found signs of life on the moon), as we discussed in class, water is the most important molecule in the life sciences!

the article is also an interesting example of the scientific process and the culture of science. notably, there is an interview with a nasa scientist who had analyzed moon rocks brought to earth ca. 40 years ago during the Apollo missions. at that time, he dismissed the idea of water being on the moon. presented with the new data and now convinced that there is water on the moon, he said, “I’ve eaten my shorts.”

i'll post the original research paper as soon as it is published!