eureka moment [ptero histology]

[David Peters <davidrpeters@earthlink.net>]

Archimedes had his eureka moment in the bathtub. I had mine in the gym.
A big thanks to David M and Jaime H for keeping my mind focused on this
cartilage vs. bone problem.

Cartilage, like concrete, is good at holding a shape, but it is
vulnerable to outside forces. It can break easily. To make concrete
stronger takes rebar. Find the rebar in pterosaur cartilage and you've
got your answer to the perplexing problem of pterosaur growth.

I realized, just this morning, that I've seen the rebar in pterosaur
bone histology papers. How it worked can be metaphorically seen [to
quote G. Marx again] "in an ordinary object found everyday around the
house." And it's a great bit of evolutionary ingenuity that works.

I'll leave it at that for now.

In an effort to exonerate Wang and Zhou from any blame regarding the
misidentification of the "embryo" in the egg, I should also say that
they are not the only ones who have published errors and oversights. I
should have included Unwin, Bennett, Padian, Kellner, Wild, Wellnhofer,
Dalla Vecchia and yours truly, David Peters, in that long list. I don't
trust anyone's description, including my own. Test. Always test.

And I'm glad you guys are testing me. Thank you.

More later,

David Peters