Dinosaurs 'Shrink' as Scientists Do More Research

Larger beasts may have been only half as big as usually portrayed.

SUMMARY: Dinosaurs may not have been as big as usually pictured, London's Journal of Zoology said in a paper published June 21. One of the largest dinosaurs, Apatosaurus louisae (picture), may have been only half the size of what it has been estimated to be.

The problem appears to be a statistical model which has been used by paleontologists for 25 years to estimate body weight of giant dinosaurs and other large prehistoric animals. The model appears to be flawed, scientists say. "By re-examining data in the original reference sample, we show that the statistical model is seriously flawed and that the giant dinosaurs probably were only about half as heavy as is generally believed" says Gary Packard from Colorado State University.

This discovery may cause scientists to re-evaluate their ideas about dinosaur locomotion, metabolism, and food requirements.

To read the entire article click on this SCIENCE DAILY link.

COMMENT: This story points once again at the difficulty of getting fossils to give definitive answers. Whether these giant beasts lived hundreds, thousands or millions of years ago, many questions can never be answered with certainty. Yesterday's fact becomes today's question mark.

If paleontologists have been wrong about the size of dinosaurs, what else might they be wrong about? Did dinosaurs really die out some 65 million years ago? Were there really dinosaurs covered with feathers? Did some dinosaurs actually evolve into birds?

Learning about dinosaurs is a fascinating subject, but with one exception ideas about the prehistoric past should never take on the aura of invincibility. The one exception is if the ideas come right out of Scripture. Even creationist scientists must be careful about over-selling their own theories if they are not validated by Scripture, as reasonable as such theories might seem.

Fortunately, the main message of the Bible is a fact, clearly stated numerous times. Jesus came to earth to save sinners, which includes all of us. Repentance over our sins and belief that He died for our sins so we wouldn't have to die for them is the free ticket to heaven that all people ought to be looking for.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

Where can most of the Earth's fresh water be found?

About 70% of the fresh water can be found frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica (picture) and Greenland. The remaining fresh-water supply exists in the atmosphere, streams, lakes or groundwater.

Source: www.livescience.com