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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Dinosaur popularity

This looks promising: "First Look: "Walking With Dinosaurs'."


My family and I have become great fans of Dinosaur Train, for its laudable inclusion of real paleontology in a children's show. I even corresponded recently with Dr. Scott Sampson about the correct pronunciation of parasaurolophus. (His answer: most paleontologists prefer para-sore-all-o-fus.)

Space and dinosaurs have long been two key subjects for getting children interested in science. Space doesn't seem to be performing that function nearly as well as it did as recently as the 1990s; I can't think of any recent event that spurred interest comparable to Pathfinder's 1997 exploits on Mars. Maybe that'll change with some asteroid visit or such, but it's a good thing the dinosaurs are very much on the job.