RE: Pterosaur story

[Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>]

At 11:22 AM -0500 10/30/03, Danvarner@aol.com wrote:
>  >
> >  National Geographic has a remarkably sloppy story at:
> >  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1029_031029_pteros
> >  aurs.html
>  > Pterosaurs are alternatively dinosaurs and birds.
>
> I did see those mistakes: the webpage title ("dinosaur flyers were
> sharp-eyed,...") and the line "Bennett said that the orientation of the
> semicircular canals in Anhanguera reflect selection for a down-turned
> "normal" head position, but he is uncertain what a normal posture was for
> this bird".
>
> However, the rest of the time they seem to get it correct: >>
>
>        Those were the parts that bothered me. I can understand or even expect
> it in the mainstream press, but this is National Geographic and part of a
> headline. Some editor should have caught this. DV

Reading it carefully, and knowing something of how stories are 
processed, the mistakes look like the editor's rather than the 
writers. Editors usually supply headlines, and try to explain things 
they found unclear. I suspect the original was too technical for the 
editor, who inserted explanatory phrases like
"Pterodactyls-the common name for pterosaurs-lived alongside 
dinosaurs during the Mesozoic, about 251 to 65 million years ago." 
which takes the idea that the Mesozoic was the age of dinosaurs 
entirely too literally.

If the whole story was unclear, I'd suspect the writer.

--
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
jeff@jeffhecht.com; http://www.jeffhecht.com
Boston Correspondent: New Scientist magazine
Contributing Editor: Laser Focus World
525 Auburn St., Auburndale, MA 02466 USA
v. 617-965-3834; fax 617-332-4760