Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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| − | {{comic
| + | dabbbereamarp1986=-= |
| − | | number = 1104
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| − | | date = September 05, 2012
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| − | | title = Feathers
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| − | | image = feathers.png
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| − | | imagesize =
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| − | | titletext = Click to see a video of a modern bird using stability flapping during predatory behavior. It all fits! Also, apparently Microraptor had *four* wings? The past keeps getting cooler! (And there's more of it every day!)
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| − | }}
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| − | == Explanation ==
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| − | {{w|Dinosaur}}s have been a fascinating topic in popular science and captivated children's interest since the first fossils were discovered in modern times around the 1700's. Prior discoveries in China were described as dragon bones. The success of the ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' movies resulted in a possibly erroneous understanding of how dinosaurs looked by the majority of the general public. Since the first movie of that series new scientific evidence has emerged suggesting that {{w|Deinonychus}}, the main antagonists of that movie, may have looked quite different from their animatronic imitations (featured in the movies); in particular, they are now thought to have had feathers and perhaps even wings.
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| − | [[File:Deinonychus (Raptor Prey Restraint).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Artist's impression of Deinonychus engaged in "raptor prey restraint" as suggested by Fowler et al. (2011). (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
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| − | Dennis Fowler is among the scientists who support this hypothesis. The comic refers to [http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007999 a publication by him and his colleagues] ("{{Wiktionary|et al.}}"), in the ''{{w|PLoS ONE}}'', an online scientific journal ("PLoS" stands for "Public Library of Science").
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| − | [[Megan]] is dismissive about this new hypothesis, as is typical of grownups beyond a certain age. But the way in which the child reformulates it catches her interest – apparently the new raptors have become even better candidates for a good action thriller movie than the original version. Thus the phrase "the past keeps getting cooler".
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| − | Clicking on the original cartoon links to a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qpdk-U8fI0 YouTube video] of a bird of prey using its wings for stability while standing on top of a moving prey.
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| − | {{Incomplete|1104: Feathers}}
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| − | {{Comic discussion}}
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
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Revision as of 21:30, 5 September 2012
