kbin_space_program

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Cake day: February 23rd, 2024

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  • Spinosaurus and Baryonyx.

    Because so many people recognize the former, but we know so very little about that entire family of dinosaurs, and currently it might be one of the easier ways to get paleontologists to argue amongst each other.

    For example: the graphic in the post shows Spinosaurus standing on two legs. It was probably mostly quadrapedal, standing on all fours.

    It has a huge, paddle like tail, but apparently didnt have the muscles to use it like a croc or gator does.

    The entire family has denser bones suggesting an aquatic life, but most of the spinosaurids have those huge back spines which dont seem to serve a known purpose and the spinal bones have room for air sacs which runs counter to the whole aquatic thing.

    So to sum up, we have a heavily built, seemingly aquactic crocodile like dinosaur with teeth and jaws built for active hunting. But wouldnt be that fast on land (heavy bones and giant spines) and cant swim like a croc or gator(no muscles for that.) And it doesn’t have a long neck like a heron or pleisiosaur.

    Best of all, the most complete skeleton of spinosaurus was destroyed in WW2, so we don’t even have that to work from.





  • Ears are wrong since they suggest directional ears, but we don’t have the muscle, or critically the ligament attachment points on the skull, for that.

    As far as claws go, again, no marks of strong cartilege / ligament / bed on the fingers and toes that would indicate functional claws.

    Nipples: the smoking gun would be a pregnant woman or an infant, but theyd be able to see that unlike rodents, humans arent having more than two babies at a time outside of extremely rare cases, more than two babies just dont have room to fully gestate, so theyd likely cut that number down.

    Fur: the sheer amount of plastic clothing we’ve generated will put that to rest fast.

    Whiskers: There would be ligament attachment marks on the skull where the muscles used to move them would have been. Also maybe blood vessel/neuron marks on the bones.

    Also the almost complete lack of snout would indicate heavy hand usage and not diving into things headfirst like rodents and cats have to.












  • kbin_space_program@kbin.runtoScience Memes@mander.xyzfood science
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    5 months ago

    When you hear food engineering, think of things like how Pringles chips give a huge burst of flavour then shatter in your mouth with a nice crunch, but leave nothing to chew.

    Or how fast food burgers like Mcdonalds and Wendy’s similarly give lots of flavour but nothing to chew.

    Both are examples of engineered foods. In both cases, designed to leave you wanting more.

    They work on two principles.

    1. The brain wants flavour and crunch.
    2. It cheats on immediate fulness by counting bites/chews.

    You can counteract their food design with smaller bites and chewing more.

    This was from a CBC Radio special on the science of fast food I recall from far too long ago.