Titans 134 De-feathering T rex & pterosaurs, & Evo by Nat Induct--A Tale of Two Reactions

Описание: Evolution Hour 416 S&T continue their attempt to de-feather the dinos, and relying on Feduccia et al. 2005 https://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/bi... still to do it, then invoking how large tyrannosaurs had scaly skin, per Bell et al. 2017 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rs..., but certainly didn’t quote this:

“Tyrannosaurids do not, therefore, exhibit the widely distributed filamentous feathers present in Dilong and Yutyrannus, where scales are unknown [1,8]. In fact, within Coelurosauria, where feathers are present, they cover virtually the entire body [13,14]. On the other hand, the co-occurrence of epidermal scales and filamentous structures has only been reported in some neornithischians [15], although the homology of these filamentous structures with theropod feathers has been questioned [7]. Finally, the presence of epidermal scales in a large adult individual does not rule out the possibility that younger individuals possessed feathers—a developmental switchover that, to our knowledge, would be unprecedented at any rate.”

There’s also another of the oddly-placed footnotes on p. 254, where note 53 crops up relating to pterosaur integuments (Yang et al 2019 https://www.researchgate.net/publicat..., suggesting it may have been a late addition. That same group covered dino feather origins a few years after S&T came out, Yang et al. 2024 https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146... on “Cellular structure of dinosaur scales reveals retention of reptile-type skin during the evolutionary transition to feathers.”

Part 2. Late last year an odd paper appeared at Interface Focus by Richard Watson, Michael Levin & Tim Lewens https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rs... on “Evolution by natural induction” which Zach Hancock considered a pile of fluff. Compare that with Discovery Institute’s anonymous reaction https://scienceandculture.com/2025/12... burbling on about Michael Levin’s part in that, and recommending a 3 hr video by Levin and Lex Fridman on “Alien Intelligence & Biological Life”    • Michael Levin: Hidden Reality of Alien Int...  

Whether this will rank with Richard Buggs’ 2016 collaboration with Paul Nelson on orphan genes remains to be seen.

Thanks to all your help, I’m doing my part on the science defense front, having written THE coverage of how antievolutionists ignore the reptile-mammal transition macroevolution evidence https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540736296/... which paleontologist Christine Janis described in her Amazon review as “an incredible tour de force”

And now the new https://www.amazon.com/Rocks-Were-The... with Jackson Wheat puts the Source Methods scalpel to use carving YEC to pieces. We’ll have Volume 2 out in due course.

Source Methods works as a debate approach too. For example, catch my 2018 debate with Kent Hovind    • Is Young Earth Creationism True? Kent Hovi...   Draw freely on all the work assembled at TIP “Troubles in Paradise: The Methodology of Creationism” www.tortucan.wordpress.com share the pdfs freely.

You can become an “Evolution Hour” Patron   / downardtip