The Paleo-Diet: Dinosaurs lose weight in new study | Redux

The Paleo-Diet: Dinosaurs lose weight in new study

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Excerpt:

By simplifying leg bones down to basic columns, previous studies could have underestimated the stresses experienced in animal limbs by up to 142 percent. Stress shown here in the common hedgehog's femur (a), and a tibia of a large bird, Uria (b). Charlotte Brassey The fact that bones have curves has now thrown a curveball into calculations of dinosaur weight, researchers say. New estimates suggest dinosaurs may have been lighter than once thought, scientists explain. With the rare exceptions of fossilized scraps of  skin,  feathers,  bristles  and other relatively soft tissues, all that remains of most extinct creatures are their skeletons. One way that investigators seek to learn more about these lost animals is to deduce their weight from their bones.

Keywords:

dinosaur finite element analysis mass animal body mass equations columns animal species body weight computationally expensive European hedgehog white-tailed eagle common murre rock hyrax underestimated European polecat American flamingo bush baby predictions Royal Society Image Gallery calculations beams Giraffatitan metric findings bird complex basic curveball large bristles tibia columnar time-consuming scraps simplification fossilized bumps giraffe skeletons Stunning femur Uria simplicity bending digitally Brachiosaurus researcher monkey

People:

Charlotte Brassey

Overall Sentiment: -0.136945

Relevance: 0.949089

Sentiment	Quote
-0.068569	"as soon as we introduce irregularities into their shape — the lumps, bumps and curves that are typical of animal bones — then they no longer behave like columns," Brassey told ...
-0.0688452	"the smallest change in the position or direction of loading induced significant amounts of bending," Brassey said. ...
-0.17211	"We've always known that reducing bones down to simple beams was a huge simplification," Brassey said, ...
-0.161938	"We've always known that reducing bones down to simple beams was a huge simplification," Brassey said, but it was only after she created the models and compressed them "that I realized how infeasible it was."
-0.15664	"Unfortunately, it's not as simple as saying, 'These equations underestimate stress by 20 percent.' Instead, it depends on the underlying shape of the bone," Brassey said. ...
0.165175	"Unfortunately, it's not as simple as saying, 'These equations underestimate stress by 20 percent.' Instead, it depends on the underlying shape of the bone," Brassey said. "A whole-body approach to  mass prediction in dinosaurs  might be preferable."
-0.326576	"which is quite a bit lower than some previous predictions," Brassey said. ...
-0.0673091	"Other scientists will argue that finite element analysis remains too computationally expensive and time-consuming," Brassey said. ...
-0.0269797	"Other scientists will argue that finite element analysis remains too computationally expensive and time-consuming," Brassey said. "We appreciate this, and have also introduced improvements to the beam equations in our study for those who do not wish to use finite element analysis."
-0.227445	"We've found that it massively increases stress levels when loading the bones in compression, which would be disadvantageous, yet most bones still have some degree of curvature, so evolution hasn't acted to get rid of this curvature," Brassey said. ...
0.11593	"But we still haven't really come up with the solution yet," Brassey said. ...
Sentiment Stats:	Number of Quotes: 11 Aggregate Sentiment: -0.995307 Mean: -0.090482454545455 Standard Deviation: 1.4142135623731

bush

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Brachiosaurus

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Company: Brassey

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The fact that bones have curves has now thrown a curveball into calculations of dinosaur weight, researchers say.

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The Paleo-Diet: Dinosaurs lose weight in new study

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• dinosaurs
• evolution
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• giraffe
• hedgehog
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