What a Bird!

I just thought this was incredibly interesting, but scientists have found evidence of dinosaurs direct, common lineage with birds. According to the NYTs:

Scientists have found bone tissue in a Tyrannosaurus rex that they say shows the 70-million-year-old animal was an ovulating female. The estrogen-derived tissue, they determined, is similar to tissue now present only in living birds producing egg shells.

The discovery team concluded in a report to be published on Friday in the journal Science that the finding "solidifies the link between dinosaurs and birds" and "provides an objective means of gender differentiation in dinosaurs."

How cool!

Also what struck me was this quote from the skeptical Dr. Mark A. Norell:

"But I'm not 100 percent sure, and want to see the results replicated in more than one animal. The big thing in science is replication."

Unlike religious zealots, or even your everyday religious moderate, skepticism in science is welcomed and when you claim something like the fearsome T-rex is an ancestor to today's flightless birds like the ostrich, you have to have evidence.

I'd like to see a replication of the resurrection or the virgin birth sometime soon, but for some reason, I don't think that's possible.