Scientific Nomenclature: The "Thagomizer"

This is so awesome!

I love this.

When the Far Side came out in 1982, paleontologists realised they'd never actually named that part of a stegosaurus and began using the term informally. And now, 36 years later, if you type "Thagomizer" into a search engine... pic.twitter.com/pMDYoOrT8d

— Jim Bliss (@JimBliss23) July 21, 2018

(Tip of the cap to C E Watkins.)

Is A Chicken a Dirac Limit of a Dinosaur?

This paper has a lovely line in its concluding section: "In such a cartoon description, a chicken is a Dirac limit of a tyrannosaur, in which many of its genetic parameters tend to zero."

(Tip of the cap to Lior Pachter.)

Evolution of Ankylosaur Tails

Some new research has shed new light on the evolution of ankylosaur tails.

Ankylosaurus has always been my favorite dinosaur. And, really, is it such a surprise that I would be into a creature that was hard to munch and defended itself like that?

As a child, I never did see a plush ankylosaurus to buy, and perhaps the people who worked at the gift shops at the L. A. Natural History Museum and the La Brea Tarpits eventually got annoyed at my asking if they had one. I was, however, very pleased when I first saw a plush dimetrodon. That was an obvious purchase.

The Real Reason Brontosaurus Went Away

Here is the real reason that brontosaurus was removed from our dinosaur history books and we now have apatosaurus instead. :)

Dinosaur Chrome

Check out this chrome skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that was installed by the Seine River in Paris. Absolutely gorgeous!

(Tip of the cap to I Fucking Love Science.)

How to Eat a Triceratops

In case you and your fellow t-rexes want to learn how to eat a triceratops, then you should take a look at this article.

(Tip of the cap to "I Fucking Love Science".)

Dinosaur Comics and Doing Arithmetic in One's Head

This issue of Dinosaur Comics is pretty funny. (I hadn't actually been aware that new "issues" of Dinosaur Comics were still being produced.) Of course, I remain partial to the one about Rotating Hell.

Computational Paleobiology

Aaron Clauset has written a nice blog entry about some really awesome opportunities in computational paleobiology.

Some of these data sets look really cool, so I think I'll add it to my list to have a project involving this kind of stuff at some point. And if I can do some research related to my childhood fascination with dinosaurs, then that would be particularly awesome!