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Yet another science piece that perpetuates the misconception that “the mass extinction killed the dinosaurs”. The clade of dinosaurs is not extinct and it bothe
by Timwi 2y ago
Yet another science piece that perpetuates the misconception that “the mass extinction killed the dinosaurs”. The clade of dinosaurs is not extinct and it bothers me that science writers don't seem to learn this fact and keep getting it wrong.
- dartos 2y agoYet another comment saying someone is wrong with no context or links for the rest of us. :(
- imaginary_unit 2y agoBirds are part of the dinosaur clade and alive and well! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avialae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avialae
- Timwi 2y agoMy apologies. I will provide links next time. For now, my sibling comment will do the trick. Birds are dinosaurs, so dinosaurs are not extinct.
- sornaensis 2y ago'The extinction of non-Avian Dinosaurs' just doesn't roll off the tongue.
- blueflow 2y agoI get the "everyone knows what was meant" approach... but not everyone knows.
- lazide 2y agoWhat the general public considers dinosaurs has no overlap with the existing animals that scientists consider dinosaurs. While technically correct, it’s not useful nomenclature for public discussion.
- blueflow 2y ago[flagged]
- madmountaingoat 2y agoThe audience of Ars isn't "general" and the usage wasn't colloquial. The article is about evolution and the pressures that caused the adaptation. It would have been nice if the author had demonstrated a bit more knowledge of the topic. Its a mistake that grows less forgivable the more years that pass. Hell, I recall the days when people frequently called whales fish. That wouldn't fly in article about evolution now, and neither should this.
- lazide 2y agoDinosaur literally means ‘terrible lizard’. It was originally coined as a description for the large, extinct, giant lizards. T-Rex, etc. That it has later come to encompass things like seagulls is more a bait and switch on the public, than the public being idiots. You might as well beat up on someone for calling Pluto a planet. Oh wait, it technically is again? My bad. Oh wait, it’s technically a dwarf planet. My mistake again! Clearly, I’m the one who is an idiot, and it has nothing to do with experts causing confusion because it gets them headlines/justifies their existence and makes them feel superior to everyone else.