A fossil skeleton of a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx, preserved in volcanic ash, was discovered in Liaoning, China, in 1996. Interestingly, the fossil included a pattern of fine lines surrounding the skeletal bones. Some paleontologists interpret the lines as evidence that Sinosauropteryx had feathers. However, critics have opposed the idea that Sinosauropteryx was a feathered dinosaur, citing several reasons.
First, the critics points out that the fine lines may not even represent functional structures of a living dinosaur, but rather structures that were formed after the animal’s death. After the animal died and was buried in volcanic ash, its skin may have decomposed into fibers. The skin fibers then became preserved as lines in the fossil; the lines were misinterpreted as evidence of feathers.
Second, even if the fine lines are remains of real structures of a Sinosauropteryx, scientists cannot tell with certainty what part of the dinosaur’s anatomy the structures were. Many dinosaurs had frills, ornamental fan-shaped structures growing out of some parts of their bodies. Some of the critics argue that the lines surrounding the skeleton are much more likely to be fossilized remains of frills than remains of feathers.
A third objection is based on the fact that the usual functions of feathers are to help animals fly or regulate their internal temperature. However, the structures represented by the lines in the Sinosauropteryx fossil were mostly located along the backbone and the tail of the animal. This would have made the structures quite useless for flight and of very limited use in thermoregulation. This suggests that the lines do not represent feathers.
The article discusses about evidences that opposes the claim of some researches that the lines in a newly-found fossil of Sinosauropteryx is an indicator of them having feathers. The author supports his ideas with three reasons, however, the professor in the lecture takes these evidences as unconvincing and opposes each of them.
First, the article claims that the feathers are most likely to be decomposed and the lines cannot be representative of anything meaningful. However, the professor avers that there were another fossils of well-known animals in the same site which were preserved very well and no evidence of decomposition was observed so we can believe that the lines are related to the exact form of the animal.
Second, the passage states that scientists cannot tell for sure to what part of the Sinosauropteryx's anatomy the lines are related since dinosaurs had lots of similar parts such as frills. Even though the lecturer agrees that the dinosaurs has parts like frills but she states that the frills and feathers have a chemical difference. The feathers have a material named beta-carotene in their structure but frills do not have it, hence the lines cannot be related to frills.
Third, the reading avers that the feathers have to functions in animals, flying or thermoregulation, and since the lines were mostly along the backbone it is very unlikely to have any functions. However, the professor explains that feathers may have other functionalities. She provide an example of peacock who use its feathers and tail to attract mates and it has a display function. Furthermore she avers that the studies had shown that their feather was colorful, therefore, they might had a display function.
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| 2019-12-28 | Salehi | 3 | view |
| 2019-12-27 | Bonjourkmm | 88 | view |
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| 2019-11-05 | Seema Modak | 71 | view |
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 278, Rule ID: HE_VERB_AGR[1]
Message: The pronoun 'She' must be used with a third-person verb: 'provides'.
Suggestion: provides
...ers may have other functionalities. She provide an example of peacock who use its feath...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 386, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Furthermore,
...ct mates and it has a display function. Furthermore she avers that the studies had shown th...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, furthermore, hence, however, if, may, second, so, therefore, third, well, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 10.4613686534 124% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 6.0 5.04856512141 119% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 7.30242825607 137% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 12.0772626932 116% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 22.412803532 120% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 29.0 30.3222958057 96% => OK
Nominalization: 6.0 5.01324503311 120% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1445.0 1373.03311258 105% => OK
No of words: 280.0 270.72406181 103% => OK
Chars per words: 5.16071428571 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.09062348924 4.04702891845 101% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.88042079905 2.5805825403 112% => OK
Unique words: 156.0 145.348785872 107% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.557142857143 0.540411800872 103% => OK
syllable_count: 452.7 419.366225166 108% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.23620309051 109% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 1.25165562914 80% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 0.0 2.5761589404 0% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 11.0 13.0662251656 84% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 25.0 21.2450331126 118% => OK
Sentence length SD: 45.1182102101 49.2860985944 92% => OK
Chars per sentence: 131.363636364 110.228320801 119% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.4545454545 21.698381199 117% => OK
Discourse Markers: 8.45454545455 7.06452816374 120% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 4.19205298013 48% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 4.0 4.33554083885 92% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0951919327972 0.272083759551 35% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.035825190152 0.0996497079465 36% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0390738902314 0.0662205650399 59% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0611330049594 0.162205337803 38% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0266311973628 0.0443174109184 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.6 13.3589403974 117% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 53.8541721854 86% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 11.0289183223 118% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.94 12.2367328918 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.82 8.42419426049 105% => OK
difficult_words: 70.0 63.6247240618 110% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 10.7273730684 135% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 10.498013245 114% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.2008830022 116% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader. Maybe there is a wrong essay topic.
Rates: 3.33333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.