
Fossil colour studies are changing our idea of how dinosaurs looked - dnetesn
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/fossil-colour-studies-are-changing-our-idea-how-dinosaurs-looked.html
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jtbayly
No new drawings in this article to help me revise my mental picture, though.

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mumblemumble
I think the article just has a poorly selected title. The real interesting new
research it's presenting has nothing to do with how dinosaurs looked. It's
really about a possible discovery in dinosaur physiology: that they produced
melanin in more than just their skin, which implies that animals might have
uses for it beyond just pigmentation.

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adamc
Yes, exactly. It's really not even limited to dinosaurs.

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kuu
I don't like this kind of articles, because they start with a question that is
not answered. What's the point about writing an article in a newspaper saying
'what is x' and being the answer 'we don't know' ?

Edit: The title in HN has been changed. It was called "What color evolved for"
or something similar...

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Errancer
To remove doubt that there is a single, monolithic cause? And going from
unknown unknowns to unknown knows is something very valuable in my opinion

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kuu
"going from unknown unknowns to unknown knows is something very valuable in my
opinion".

Agree, but don't give me a clickbait title (now it has changed)

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logfromblammo
To clarify the article title:

Investigations into dinosaur coloration have revealed that study of
melanosomes can reveal details of internal structures in addition to just
external appearances.

The implied question was "What colors were the dinosaurs?" The unexpected
answer was "Several colors on the outside, but the remains of their internal
organs can also be differentiated by color."

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aiyodev
Most people haven’t changed their mental image to include feathers yet.
Dinosaurs are prehistoric birds.

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perl4ever
The idea that dinosaurs were basically warm blooded birds hit pop culture back
in 1986[1], four years before the first Jurassic Park.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dinosaur_Heresies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dinosaur_Heresies)

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taneq
Just the same as any other evolved feature: It supported the Four F's
(feeding, fighting, fleeing, and fornicating).

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goatlover
That's a bit reductionistic as there's lots of other things organisms do.

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kevin_thibedeau
Most of human behavior boils down to the same. You can simplify it even
further as "doing things to avoid discomfort".

