matgb: (Cool)
Mat Bowles ([personal profile] matgb) wrote2007-06-26 01:49 am

Paging the palaeontologists

Via [livejournal.com profile] theweaselking, Palaeos Vertebrates: Glossary Ta - Th:
Thagomizer: this started out as a Far Side joke, but has now more or less become a part of the serious anatomical literature. The thagomizer is the, otherwise difficult to describe, collection of spikes at the end of a stegosaurid's tail. It is named after the late Thag
Is that for real?

[identity profile] tinuvielberen.livejournal.com 2007-06-26 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
I Googled it - seems to be genuine, though one source said the term hadn't appeared in any "peer-reviewed journals."

Weirder things have happened in science, however. Are you familiar with the Sonic Hedgehog gene?

[identity profile] tinuvielberen.livejournal.com 2007-06-26 04:08 pm (UTC)(link)
The first time I saw Sonic Hedgehog in a scientific paper, I was convinced the author's teenage kid had got into the manuscript and played a joke.

It's actually one of the most important genes in neural development. Killjoys abbreviate it Shh, and people with absolutely too much time on their hands advocate changing the nomenclature of this family of genes. I hope they never succeed.

Oh, and do you know what holds quarks together?

[identity profile] miss-s-b.livejournal.com 2007-06-26 09:17 am (UTC)(link)
See, Mat? Having a grade A SmartArse like Dr Beren on your F-list is a GOOD thing... ;)