Helen FieldsScience Writer

Hey, lookit – I wrote this. Things I know now that I did not know 38 hours ago:

1. Pterosaurs were not dinosaurs. They were reptiles like dinosaurs, and they lived with the dinosaurs and went extinct with the dinosaurs, but they weren’t dinosaurs – they were pterosaurs.

2. I knew about birds having hollow bones, but it turns out they also have sacs filled with air that hang around outside the bones. Weird! Birds have a really nifty respiratory system, which, when I looked it up in my freshman biology textbook, did seem vaguely familiar – those air sacs help move a ton of air through the lungs so they can keep pumping enough oxygen to keep the muscles going during flight. Flight takes a LOT of muscle action. You try flapping your arms for an hour and see how you feel.

3. How to spell Rhamphorhynchus (a genus of pterosaur). Actually, apparently I did know this, because the guy said it, and I typed what it sounded like, and I’d guessed correctly. What can I say? I’m a born speller.

art credit: Mark Witton, 2009