Dinosaurs and Liberal Fossils

Lots of interest right now in a New Yorker article, “The Day the Dinosaurs Died,” about a paleontological find in North Dakota that purports to encapsulate the moments and hours after the dinosaur-killing meteor struck 66 million years ago. It’s a fun read, though some scientists have been expressing skepticism—perhaps borne of jealousy? The research hasn’t been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal! What—do we need to replicate an asteroid strike to be sure?

But beyond scientific nit-picking, you just knew some liberal fossils would give the dinosaurs a run for their money in the going-extinct department. Today’s Nature magazine summary offers this short item about the article:

Scientists greeted the news with astonishment and scepticism, reports Science — partly because the big claims about dinosaurs made in the New Yorker piece have yet to be published in a scientific paper. Some have raised concerns about cultural sensitivity, saying the story has been reported as one of a white ‘Indiana Jones-like’ character in the “lonely expanses” of North Dakota, obfuscating the existence and knowledge of the Indigenous people whose ancestral territory it is.

So now we can’t even dig for dinosaur bones without upsetting the Wokerati.

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