Dinosaurs became birds!!!!

The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the late cretaceous of madagascar

Forster CA, Sampson SD, Chiappe LM, Krause DW.

A partial skeleton of a primitive bird, Rahona ostromi, gen. et sp. nov., has been discovered from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. This specimen, although exhibiting avian features such as a reversed hallux and ulnar papillae, retains characteristics that indicate a theropod ancestry, including a pubic foot and hyposphene-hypantra vertebral articulations. Rahona has a robust, hyperextendible second digit on the hind foot that terminates in a sicklelike claw, a unique characteristic of the theropod groups Troodontidae and Dromaeosauridae. A phylogenetic analysis places Rahona with Archaeopteryx, making Rahona one of the most primitive birds yet discovered.

Science. 1998 Mar 20;279(5358):1915-9.

Why is this cool?

Dinosaurs rock! Definitely not as much as dragons, but they are the closest we may ever get to real dragons. Today's paper is all about how dinosaurs have evolved into birds!! They present evidence that suggests several similarities between birds and dinosaurs (I say dinosaurs, but the author is specifically referring to Archaeopteryx). I will not go into the evidence, because it is fairly straightforward from the abstract.

 You may be thinking that birds are not awesome and their connection to dinosaurs only sullies the reputation of all thunder lizards, but you are so wrong. There are only three genres of flying animal: birds, bats, and insects. Insects are not animals, but you know what I mean. Insects and bats are both annoying, leaving only birds to be impressed by. 

If you need more reasons why birds rock, the great United States has declared that the most badass bird around, the Bald Eagle, represents the tenets of truth, liberty, and the American way.

 Just to be sure, here is a battle between a dragon and dinosaur. The dinosaur wins for being less fictional

REVIEW: Strontium-90 Absorption by Decidous Teeth

 As you know, the United States is pretty kicking with all those civil liberties and opportunities for bettering one's lot in the world, but it is also badass in the weapons department. This is especially true for the period between 1946 and 1990.

During this time, the U.S. of A. was engaged in a staring match with an equally capable opponent, the Soviet Union. This staring match resulted in the stockpiling of many, many nuclear (not pronounced new-cue-ler) weapons, but you can't just stockpile weapons to intimidate, you have to test them. So, the Stars and Stripes tested many thermonuclear devices right here in the heartland of freedom! 

Well, it turns out that besides disintegrating everything around it, nuclear weapons also spew out radioactive material and that frightened a lot of people. So, today's paper is tested if that radioactivity was finding its way into the greatest human populace to ever exist!

I think to really appreciate the level of nuclear weapons testing going on at the time, I'm going to have to give you numbers:

Shamelessly taken from another website.

There was a lot of testing, but, from my brief research, it does not seem like anyone was asking "are there long term or immediate health effects for populations no where near the blast site?"  A valid question if you are detonating 20 bombs a year. The fastest way to see if radioactive material from nuclear fallout (not pronounced new-cue-ler) was to see if it was accumulating in humans especially children.

So, in 1958, the researcher set up a tooth collection program in the St. Louis area. No adult teeth were collected, because most adults were children before nuclear testing.

Also, calcium accumulation occurs fastest in children and strontium-90 follows normal calcium pathways, so children really had to be the source of the teeth. The paper has a whole entire section devoted to how the teeth were collected, how they were organized, who organized them, and all that. The interesting part of the tooth collection program was that there was only one salaried person, some random secretary and that for a tooth each kid would receive the following button:

 From 1959 to 1961, the researcher received 61,000 teeth, the weekly average was 750 teeth. When the strontium-90 analysis was done, there was a clear increase in the ratio of stronitum-90:calcium over time! Being breast fed versus formula fed made no difference. When stillborn infant bones and teeth were checked, they had much higher levels than those who shed their teeth later in life. I believe that later on the incidence of childhood cancer was correlated with increased ratios of strontium-90 to calcium, but I need to check on that more.