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Sunset rainbow
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THE LAST WORD Holocene Park Dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago and mammals exploited the vacant niche. If they had not died out, which branch of dinosaur might have evolved to become the dominant, most intelligent creature?
n Back in the early 1980s, palaeontologist Dale Russell suggested that the dinosaurs most likely to evolve intelligence would have been the troodons. These were a family of moderately sized two-legged predators thought to have been closely related to birds. At the time, I wrote an article for Omni magazine about how troodons might have developed (bit.ly/Troodonworld).
n Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period and species that survived the extinction event 65 million “In the 1980s, Dale Russell years ago are ancestors of those we see today. Coincidentally, I was said the dinosaurs most likely to evolve intelligence watching a flock of geese feeding by a pond recently and it occurred were the troodons” to me that they could be mistaken We have learned a lot about for a pack of velociraptors. dinosaurs and their evolution Were it not for the extinction event, the “terrible lizards” might since then, and Russell’s original well still dominate. In the absence idea of an upright and rather of environmental change, there is human-looking “dinosauroid” little selective pressure to drive the evolution of new species. The climate change associated with the end of the Cretaceous period would have fired the starting pistol for an evolutionary race, with some species undergoing significant adaptive changes to fill the new niches. This is akin to shuffling a deck of cards. It is impossible to work out in advance what species might dominate or even what a new species will look like, because it is impossible to know what combination of traits will be more favourable than another. Besides, sometimes it is enough just to be the first to occupy a particular niche. Mike Follows Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, UK
The writers of answers that are published in the magazine will receive a cheque for £25 (or US$ equivalent). Answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a daytime telephone number and an email address if you have one. New Scientist retains total editorial control over the published content. Reed Business Information Ltd reserves all rights to reuse all question and answer material that has been
submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. Send questions and answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS, UK, by email to lastword@newscientist. com or visit www.newscientist.com/topic/ lastword (please include a postal address in order to receive payment for answers). Unanswered questions can also be found at this URL.
no longer seems realistic. Palaeontologist Darren Naish gives some alternatives from humanoid-looking species to almost-science-fiction-inspired bioraptors and brings the story more up to date online at scienceblogs.com (bit.ly/ CleverDinos). One other thing we have learned about dinosaurs and their evolution is that birds did evolve from dinosaurs, as Thomas Henry Huxley had suspected after he saw Archaeopteryx. The modern system of classifying all animals on the basis of their evolutionary relationships, called cladistics, thus considers birds to be dinosaurs. So, strictly speaking, dinosaurs did not die out but survived as avian dinosaurs, otherwise known
today as birds. Crows and ravens have also evolved some degree of intelligence. Jeff Hecht Auburndale, Massachusetts, US
This week’s questions Sunset rainbow
I took the first of these two photos not long after the local sunset time of 9.02 pm on Stanley Common in Derbyshire, UK, on 17 July 2014 (see left-hand photo). The second photo was taken at 9.22 pm, a few minutes before the last trace of the rainbow evaporated. In the first photo, there is a cloud in front of the rainbow. In the second, the rainbow has persisted after the sun had gone down. There was no rain between me and the sun after it had set. How did the two photographed phenomena occur and is it possible to calculate the height of the rain clouds causing the rainbow from the time difference I’ve given? Malcolm Muckle By email, no address supplied PICKED CLEAN
Although it seems to be frowned on in polite company, is it in fact necessary to pick your nose to keep it clear and functional? Nobody likes their nose to be dirty or uncomfortable, so why is nose picking such a taboo area in many cultures? Gavin Bate Carshalton, London, UK
Will we ever speak dolphin? The latest book: packed full of wit, knowledge and extraordinary discovery Available from booksellers and at newscientist.com/dolphins
THE LAST WORD Holocene Park Dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago and mammals exploited the vacant niche. If they had not died out, which branch of dinosaur might have evolved to become the dominant, most intelligent creature?
n Back in the early 1980s, palaeontologist Dale Russell suggested that the dinosaurs most likely to evolve intelligence would have been the troodons. These were a family of moderately sized two-legged predators thought to have been closely related to birds. At the time, I wrote an article for Omni magazine about how troodons might have developed (bit.ly/Troodonworld).
n Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period and species that survived the extinction event 65 million “In the 1980s, Dale Russell years ago are ancestors of those we see today. Coincidentally, I was said the dinosaurs most likely to evolve intelligence watching a flock of geese feeding by a pond recently and it occurred were the troodons” to me that they could be mistaken We have learned a lot about for a pack of velociraptors. dinosaurs and their evolution Were it not for the extinction event, the “terrible lizards” might since then, and Russell’s original well still dominate. In the absence idea of an upright and rather of environmental change, there is human-looking “dinosauroid” little selective pressure to drive the evolution of new species. The climate change associated with the end of the Cretaceous period would have fired the starting pistol for an evolutionary race, with some species undergoing significant adaptive changes to fill the new niches. This is akin to shuffling a deck of cards. It is impossible to work out in advance what species might dominate or even what a new species will look like, because it is impossible to know what combination of traits will be more favourable than another. Besides, sometimes it is enough just to be the first to occupy a particular niche. Mike Follows Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, UK
The writers of answers that are published in the magazine will receive a cheque for £25 (or US$ equivalent). Answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a daytime telephone number and an email address if you have one. New Scientist retains total editorial control over the published content. Reed Business Information Ltd reserves all rights to reuse all question and answer material that has been
submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. Send questions and answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS, UK, by email to lastword@newscientist. com or visit www.newscientist.com/topic/ lastword (please include a postal address in order to receive payment for answers). Unanswered questions can also be found at this URL.
no longer seems realistic. Palaeontologist Darren Naish gives some alternatives from humanoid-looking species to almost-science-fiction-inspired bioraptors and brings the story more up to date online at scienceblogs.com (bit.ly/ CleverDinos). One other thing we have learned about dinosaurs and their evolution is that birds did evolve from dinosaurs, as Thomas Henry Huxley had suspected after he saw Archaeopteryx. The modern system of classifying all animals on the basis of their evolutionary relationships, called cladistics, thus considers birds to be dinosaurs. So, strictly speaking, dinosaurs did not die out but survived as avian dinosaurs, otherwise known
today as birds. Crows and ravens have also evolved some degree of intelligence. Jeff Hecht Auburndale, Massachusetts, US
This week’s questions Sunset rainbow
I took the first of these two photos not long after the local sunset time of 9.02 pm on Stanley Common in Derbyshire, UK, on 17 July 2014 (see left-hand photo). The second photo was taken at 9.22 pm, a few minutes before the last trace of the rainbow evaporated. In the first photo, there is a cloud in front of the rainbow. In the second, the rainbow has persisted after the sun had gone down. There was no rain between me and the sun after it had set. How did the two photographed phenomena occur and is it possible to calculate the height of the rain clouds causing the rainbow from the time difference I’ve given? Malcolm Muckle By email, no address supplied PICKED CLEAN
Although it seems to be frowned on in polite company, is it in fact necessary to pick your nose to keep it clear and functional? Nobody likes their nose to be dirty or uncomfortable, so why is nose picking such a taboo area in many cultures? Gavin Bate Carshalton, London, UK
Will we ever speak dolphin? The latest book: packed full of wit, knowledge and extraordinary discovery Available from booksellers and at newscientist.com/dolphins