It is doubtful that Tyrannosaurus Re had lips or that Triceratops had cheeks, says Lawrence Witmer, an assistant professor of anatomy at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Witmer was a leading researcher for a study on dinosaur anatomy that was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, which concluded on October 3 in Snowbird, Utah.
Witmer's study reached its conclusions by using high - tech computerized aial tomography (CT or CAT) scans along with comparative anatomy studies. For eample, the theory that Triceratops and similar dinosaur species had cheeks was based on past comparisons with mammals such as sheep. But Witmer's careful analysis found the structure of the triceratops jaw and skull made it more likely that Triceratops had a beak like that of an eagle. Witmer said that scientists should use birds and crocodiles as models when researching the appearance of dinosaurs.
In early October scientists announced that they had confirmed the discovery of a new type of ceratopsian dinosaur. The dinosaur's bones, found in New Meixco in 1996, are forcing paleontologists to rethink their theories about when ceratopsians migrated to what is now North America.
Scientists previously thought that ceratopsians, the group that included the well - known Triceratops, arrived in North America from Asia between 70 million and 80 million years ago. During this time, the late Cretaceous Period, the earth's two supercontinents --Laarasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south — were in the process of pulling apart, cutting dinosaur populations off from each other and interrupting migratory patterns.
The fossilized bones, found by eight - year - old Christopher Wolfe and his father, paleontologist Doug Wolfe of the Mesa Southwest Museum in Arizona, date to about 90 million years ago. This could mean that ceratopsians originated in North America and migrated to Asia rather than the reverse, paleontologists said. Doug Wolfe named the important new species of dinosaur Zuniceratops christopheri after his son.
An expedition from the Universities of Alaska in Anchorage and Fairbanks has discovered a region in remote northern Alaska so rich in fossilized dinosaur tracks that team members dubbed it the " dino expressway ". The trampled area was found during the summer of 1998 on Alaska's North Slope near the Brooks Range.
The team found 13 new track sites and made casts from the prints of five different types of dinosaurs. The rock in which the prints were found dates to more than 100 million years ago, or about 25 million years older than the previously discovered signs of dinosaurs in the Arctic region. Paleontologists said that the new findings provide important evidence that dinosaurs migrated between Asia and North America during the early and mid -Cretaceous Period, before Asia split off into its own continent.
Two rich fossil sites in the hills of Bolivia have been recently discovered, exciting paleontologists and dinosaur buffs. This discovery includes one of the most spectacular dinosaur trackways ever found.
The discovery of a large site in the mountain region of Kila Kila in southern Bolivia was announced in early October. Here scientists found the tracks of at least two unknown species of dinosaur. These included a large quadruped (four-footed) dinosaur that was probably about 20 m (about 70 ft) long.
The other site, located not far from the Bolivian city of Sucre, was uncovered in a cement quarry by workers several years ago but was not brought to paleontologists’attention until the middle of 1998. The site feature
A. Tyrannosaurus Re had lips and Triceratops had cheeks.
B. dinosaurs might have looked like mammals such as sheep.
C. dinosaurs might not bare looked like what we thought.
D. dinosaurs must have looked like birds or crocodiles.
Cyberia—Internet Cafes
Eva Pascoe rides to work on a motorbike. Her business wardrobe features such items as black leggings, furry leopard - skin jumpers ,a faded denin jacket and biking leathers. She looks as if she might be a trendy market manager, or someone who works the day shift in a student cafe. In fact she is a very rich, very successful businesswoman.
Pascoe's business base is in the city of London, not far from the uban loft space she owns in a fashionable city residential area. But she is as likely to be found at business meetings in Tokyo, New York or Paris. Al the age of 31, Pascoe is the brain behind Cyberia, which she claims is the world's first" cyberia café."
At Cyberia, experienced Internet surfers can play with the latest cyber technology - Net virgins can learn how to log on - while munching their way through what she describes as an "obscene nacho sandwich" or any of the other dishes offered on the highly priced Cyberia menu.
Pascoe founded Cyberia with partner Gene Teare in September 1994. Since then, the company has turned over approximately 5 million pounds. Before the end of 1996 Pascoe intends to float the company on the stock market. Yet the venture started out very modestly, in a small cafe behind London's Tottenham Court Road. The decor there is strictly lowly—stripped floors, distressed wails, ambient music, funky art-yet it has turned into a global concept. Today, Cyberia cafes can be found in the British cities of Manchester and Edinburgh, and in Paris, Tokyo and New York. On the list for future Cyberia are Glasgow, Lisbon, San Franciso, British, Moscow and Delhi.
The company is diversifying fast. Multimedia training and development sessions are held in the Trans Cyberia and Sub-Cyberia basement venues beneath the cafes themselves. There is a range of Cyberia designer accessories, such as T - shins and mousepads. The company even boasts an online dating agency. The Cyberia magazine was launched early in 1996, while the world's first online" television, station", Channel Cyberia, launched in Britain in May. Cyberia Records - copies of Samples taken from the Net, for use by DJs - is promised before, long. Pascoe is unstoppable, a cyberspace version of the entrepreneur Richard Branson. She grew up in rigidly communist Poland, but has made the transformation to free -wheeling business entrepreneur with incredible ease. At first, however, the prospects for cyberia did not look good. At the lunch of the first cafe, Pascoe spent most of her day trying to buy an espresso machine that could make good coffee. "It was incredibly disorganized, " says someone who worked there as a cyberhost. "There was no proper Kitchen. Four out of the five company directors had other jobs."
Eighteen months on, many insiders say things are not much changed. "It's half- cocked," says Ivan Pope, who runs a nearby design agency. "You never get served. The coffee's always cold. It's chaos. "In deed, many industry analysis ale sceptical about Pascoe's ambitions. "Cyberia is simply a restaurant chain with a grimmick," says David Tabizel, director of a multimedia company based in the city of London.
Cybefia's trick, however, was to spot-before anyone else-that the Internet was about to turn into an everyday resource. "They managed to capture the mysterious zeitgeist of where people want to be, "says John Browning, editor - in - chief of Wired magazine. The company had brilliant branding, too. "It's a great name," says David Tabizel, noting the play on words with Siberia, the vast, desolate region in the north of Russia. Another advantage, say analysts, is the company’s decision not to open clones of its original restau rant in each new location. Every Cyberia is tailored to its city's needs.
It is doubtful that anything would have come of the idea if Pascoe had not been behind it from the start. She has been described variously as "weird and intense",
A. The Cyberia magazine.
B. An online dating agency,
Cyberia Records.
D. Cyberia SuPermarket.