shows how little we really know about dinosaurs, we just project. 50 years ago, dinosaurs were big chubby fellows with drab suits who lived placidly. 20 years ago, they became athletes in bright tracks suits who took good care of their kids. what next?

Physics does suggest a few things, though. That model where the dinosaurs lived in the water for support can't work, because the water pressure down there would keep them from breathing from the surface. There are a few animals that have bodies a few tens of feet underwater and breathe from the surface, and they have huge solid ribs and muscles to pump the air down, we can see from their skeletons dinosaurs don't. look at the old 'hardhat' ...

shows how little we really know about dinosaurs, we just project. 50 years ago, dinosaurs were big chubby fellows with drab suits who lived placidly. 20 years ago, they became athletes in bright tracks suits who took good care of their kids. what next?

Physics does suggest a few things, though. That model where the dinosaurs lived in the water for support can't work, because the water pressure down there would keep them from breathing from the surface. There are a few animals that have bodies a few tens of feet underwater and breathe from the surface, and they have huge solid ribs and muscles to pump the air down, we can see from their skeletons dinosaurs don't. look at the old 'hardhat' divers, pre-Scuba, who had the air pumped down from the surface; when the air compressor at the surface failed, the pressure in the water would just crush them into their helmets.

the size also plays into the warmblooded thing; that's what might have allowed them to be warmblooded, without needing all the adaptations mammals have. You take a compost heap the size of a dinosaur, it's going to be pretty warm all by itself; and that's what's in a dinosaur's stomach. so they might have been cold-blooded early in evolution, but as they got bigger they would have just naturally warmed up. other cold-blooded animals are actually warm; bumblebees for instance. remember that thing about "aerodynamically the bumblebee can't fly"? that's because at room temp, their muscles don't put out enough power. but they have to warm up in the am by shivering their muscles, and biological processes are more powerful with temperature, so once they're warmed up they fly just fine, and stay warm. Same with tuna; that red meat gets warm during swimming, and that's what gives them the power for their high-performance lifestyle.

Another thing that we see in science, a theory is only as good as the next discovery.I made the mistake of applying laws of physics, when nature is great a creating exceptions. Some of the ways nature has overcome a problem or barrier, we have a lot to learn from.
The truth is once I got a picture of a T-Rex with big ears, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then I remembered the pterodactly. We probably would have been stumped at the physics that allowed it to fly, but it managed. Dinosaurs probably sprung a few lines, but its been long enough for many to change a lot.
Maybe when we decode DNA more completely, we'll be able to peg something where it belongs on the tree of life, but Humans lo...

Another thing that we see in science, a theory is only as good as the next discovery.I made the mistake of applying laws of physics, when nature is great a creating exceptions. Some of the ways nature has overcome a problem or barrier, we have a lot to learn from.
The truth is once I got a picture of a T-Rex with big ears, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then I remembered the pterodactly. We probably would have been stumped at the physics that allowed it to fly, but it managed. Dinosaurs probably sprung a few lines, but its been long enough for many to change a lot.
Maybe when we decode DNA more completely, we'll be able to peg something where it belongs on the tree of life, but Humans love categories. One of the biggest problems with size, would be getting enough to eat.