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Yes, You Can Put a Price on a T-Rex (2015)
- qntty 8y ago$ 7.6 million for people who don't want to read it
- evandena 8y agoThe Field Museum bought it
- Jaruzel 8y agoThat's not the point of the story. It's actually about the T-Rex named Sue that was one of the first dinosaur fossils to be auctioned at an insane price, and kickstarted the whole fossil-hunting-for-money industry.
- jandrese 8y agoAlso happens to be the most complete skeleton discovered of the most iconic dinosaur. The price was expected to be considerably above the average. I feel pretty bad for the paleontologists who got screwed in the end after doing all of the work.
- johan_larson 8y agoFossil hunting for money could be a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, there will be a lot more fossil-hunting, meaning more fossils will be found. But on the other, commercial hunters are likely to be much less careful with fossils than scientists would be. Anyone know how the tradeoffs work out?
- pdabbadabba 8y agoExactly what I came here for. Thanks. :)
- newswriter99 8y agoI expect better headlines from NPR. It seems no news organization is free from enticing readers these days.
- mathattack 8y agoCheaper vanity purchase than a sports team!
- 18nleung 8y agoThere's a reason why the U.S. government doesn't pay ransom money to terrorists - it would set a dangerous precedent. While this doesn't necessarily have the same dire consequences, it's a shame that the door has been opened to scientific finds being co-opted for money. I'll always look up to Jonas Salk, who refused to patent the polio vaccine. Some things shouldn't have a price put on them.
- caymanjim 8y agoPersonal property rights should always be paramount. I don't want the government or anyone else deciding to take something away from me just because a special interest group thinks they can make better use of it. The standard should be far higher than that. Sue is nothing more than a curiosity. I happen to like paleontology and science in general, and I'm glad that Sue is on display in a museum and available to study, but there's no argument I could make for taking it away from someone without fair market compensation.
- TheBeardKing 8y agoIsn't land as personal property kind of a gray area though? After all, eminent domain exists. Just because the US Government allowed settlers to claim land in South Dakota a hundred years ago, doesn't relinquish any and every right to the land and its features/resources.
- monista 8y agoThere is a detective [novel by Douglas Preston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaur_Canyon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaur_Canyon) (2005) exploiting the high value of fossils.