Colloquium Details
From Apatosaurus to Zygapophyses
| Author: | Kent A. Stevens University of Oregon |
|---|---|
| Date: | February 25, 1999 |
| Time: | 16:00 |
| Location: | 220 Deschutes |
Abstract
Vertebrate paleontology is an example of a field that benefits greatly from scientific visualization. I'll be describing the results that have been unearthed by DinoMorph, software for creating and manipulating articulated skeletons. Sauropod dinosaurs fairly strain the imagination, for no time before or since has the Earth seen quadrupedal animals of such size. But other than a few museum mounts and artists' renditions, little has been learned about how they moved, or even how they stood, let alone why they had the specializations they most obviously evolved. In examining their necks as engineered systems there has been an interplay between determining what matters biomechanically and what does not, and to model within the computer that which does. The science then begins when the tool is applied. Recent paleontological results will be discussed, perhaps concluding with reflections on the nature of scientific exploration.