Re: Oviraptor eggs and such

[Stan Friesen <swf@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM>]

 From: Ralph Chapman <MNHAD002@sivm.si.edu>
 > ... I hope
 > every teacher uses this as an excellent example of the dangers of
 > assuming associations using historical data based solely on abundance
 > data. Gave Oviraptor a bad rap though - the eggs were associated with
 > the wrong end of the animal. Sorry.

I would make this even stronger: never assume anything without
checking first.

This is the primary rule of science.  (Experiments are simply
one obvious way of checking).
 

One of my first jobs furnishes a similar story.
The resting stage of a certain amoeba was assumed to be triggered
by starvation.  The researcher I was assisting proved this was
NOT so, that the resting stage was triggered by crowding,
and that starvation merely starved them!
[The assumption in this case was almost as old as the one
in the Oviraptor case before it was overturned].

swf@elsegundoca.ncr.com         sarima@netcom.com

The peace of God be with you.