Ok, another Omni magazine, this one from June 1994 and featuring George Olshevsky's infamous Birds Come First article. It's scattered over about 12 pages of the magazine and features a diagrammatic phylogeny plus Luis Rey's excellent evolutionary sequence, showing 'mesenosaur' to Archaeopteryx. - ThreadSky

tetzoo.bsky.social • 181 days ago

Ok, another Omni magazine, this one from June 1994 and featuring George Olshevsky's infamous Birds Come First article. It's scattered over about 12 pages of the magazine and features a diagrammatic phylogeny plus Luis Rey's excellent evolutionary sequence, showing 'mesenosaur' to Archaeopteryx.

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killerswan.bsky.social•180 days ago

Omni was published by the same folks who did Penthouse, which IMHO was the best of its peers (though management had mob connections apparently?)

fun scifi stories and great cyberpunk art!

caseyg.bsky.social•181 days ago

I think I had this issue.

tetzoo.bsky.social•180 days ago

Next up is this Feb 1997 New Scientist, featuring a long feature article by Pat Shipman on bird origins. I think it's an extract from her very good book Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the Origin of Bird Flight. But... what are you playing at New Scientist? What's with all the PTEROSAUR images? Sigh.

tetzoo.bsky.social•165 days ago

Ok, the next 1990s dinosaur-themed magazine I've stumbled on. The Feb 1998 Scientific American, with a massive article on bird origins. I dislike the cover art: it's meant to show Confuciusornis as if it's a terrestrial predator, but it doesn't look much like a real animal... #dinosaurs

seijyote.bsky.social•164 days ago

This one gives very strong "I used an old taxidermy chicken for reference" vibe.

tetzoo.bsky.social•165 days ago

Gary Kaiser (of The Inner Bird) described this rendition as the 'crazy chicken' version. Anyway, the article is by Kevin Padian and Luis Chiappe, and it's pretty comprehensive (a longer, more technical version appeared in Biological Reviews). #dinosaurs #birds Cont...

tetzoo.bsky.social•165 days ago

In 1998, feathers had only just been confirmed as a legit feature of non-bird #theropods, and Padian & Chiappe acknowledged this with discussion of Protarchaeopteryx (great photos) and Sinosauropteryx. However...

tetzoo.bsky.social•165 days ago

This was still the time when you'd see discussion of feathers and birdiness in non-bird #theropods alongside unfeathered reconstructions. That looks odd now, but (speaking as a feather evangelist, even in the early 90s), it was odd then, too. The art is by Ed Heck. #dinosaurs

tetzoo.bsky.social•165 days ago

Next: Earth magazine from June 1998, featuring Karen Coates's article on Kent Stevens's research on theropod dinosaur vision. It's packed with info and good graphics, and includes colour photos of the models that Kent had made for this research... #dinosaurs

titancolossasus.bsky.social•165 days ago

it looks so weird now seeing scaly dinosaurs instead of feathered ones, times change

pfmorrison.bsky.social•179 days ago

I bought, read, and enjoyed Taking Wing many years ago, but I'm not qualified to judge any popular science books for accuracy, so I appreciate it when scientists like you can point the rest of us in the right direction.

markopalaeo.bsky.social•179 days ago

A blast from past, particularly Luis’ painting. Wow it’s 30 years ago!

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