Paging the palaeontologists

[matgb]

Via 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?

Comments

[tinuvielberen.livejournal.com]

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?

[matgb]

Um, sonic hedgehog gene? That sounds too weird to be true. *googles*

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. My brain just melted.

[tinuvielberen.livejournal.com]

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?

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

See, Mat? Having a grade A SmartArse like Dr Beren on your F-list is a GOOD thing... ;)