Weekly Round Up: Birds, Dinosaurs and why we might all be mad

What is Mad? Fifty years ago, if you had said “dinosaurs are still living among us”, people would have declared you to be mad. Now it’s accepted wisdom-our feathered friends are nothing more than a bunch of dinosaurs hiding in plain sight. So-what is a normal mind? Here’s a book which is more than usually interesting about how the mind works which takes a fresh look

https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/the-balanced-brain-by-camilla-nord-review-an-exciting-new-perspective-on-mental-health-2592061

_{We thank Mr Peter Seymour for this story}

Jurassic Beak When is a bird a bird, and a dinosaur a dinosaur? When we say so. The key learning from this new discovery is that there was a vast ecology of creatures displaying a mosaic of features some of which were more bird like than others. Learning is often no more than where someone has drawn a line. Nature Briefings Dino prompts rethink of bird evolution

The fossil of a bird-like dinosaur that lived around the same time as Archaeopteryx— considered by many palaeontologists to be the first bird — has been found in what is now southeastern China. Fujianvenator prodigiosusadds to mounting evidence that there were plenty of different birds living in the Late Jurassic period. Dinosaurs might have diversified into different kinds of bird to occupy different ecological niches, says palaeontologist Hailu You. Fujianvenator’s particularly elongated hindlimbs suggest that it was all about running or wading, instead of flying. “Early bird evolution is complicated,” says You.Nature | 3 min read
Reference: Nature paper

Belief and knowledge are two different things As this article shows, the desire to believe something, especially if it confirms your deepest desires, can trash the effects of even a heavy dose of learning. Even when people have been scammed, they keep on coming back. So don’t expect any reversal of Brexit any time soon. The Conversation:

https://theconversation.com/fyre-festival-ii-a-psychologist-on-why-some-people-fall-for-fraudsters-over-and-over-again-212562?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%

It’s too damn hot as Cole Porter would have it. Long before the sea or the wildfires get you, global warming may a start cooking you in your bed. This little piece from the BBC shows where the limits might lie

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66249805

That’s it for this week. See you all on Monday

#bird #dinosaur #climate change #mental health #scam