From: Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>
Reply-To: jeff@jeffhecht.com
To: Tetanurae@aol.com, garrison@efn.org, dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Re: Extinction due to "blue balls"
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:09:38 -0400
For anybody who's interested, the journal reference is
(Miller et al, Environmental versus genetic sex determination; a possible
factor in dinosaur extinction? Fertility and Sterility, Vol.81, No.4,
April 2004.)
The journal put out a press release, which was even less illuminating than
the news story. I have a hazy recollection that somebody proposed this
theory long ago, but I may be confused. As others have noted, it's very
hard to give it any serious credence because it makes no effort to match
the observed pattern of extinctions. In fact, I suspect it wound up in a
fertility journal because the referees wouldn't ask any troubling questions
about such things, or know that theropods were much closer to birds than to
crocodiles.
-- Jeff Hecht