Very often sequels are hardly ever up-to-it, with rare exceptions, like the 'Back to the Future' trilogy... imho.
So what's the relevance of the title? Simply that I'm reading a scientific journal devoted to the subject of dinosaurs, called the iDINO Project - Special Report.
Ever since I was a young child, I've been fascinated by dinosaurs - I could not get enough of them. Then, possibly inevitably, I lost some interest as I grew up - simply due to work pressures and other interests that have overshadowed my passion for dinosaurs.
Well, it's back, my passion that is - and for one good reason - soft tissue has been found in 'ancient' fossilised dinosaur bones! Why, 'cos it shouldn't be there, if you accept the neo-Darwinian worldview!! It's a real shocker!!
The science looks solid enough (excuse the pun), but it remains to be seen, as there's so much more work to be done. But, in short, biological soft tissues should not 'survive' the fossilisation process for millions of years, so there is only three general conclusions:
1) the material is original tissue that has been preserved by some physical process for millions of years;
2) the material is not original tissue but is the product of a microbial biofilm or some other contaminating process that successfully mimics biomolecule-containing tissues;
3) the material is original tissue that required no special preservation process because the fossil in which it is contained is only a few thousand years old
This is truly astounding science, as it presents a major challenge to the generally accepted neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. It's rare to come across evidence of this kind, that lays down the gauntlet in such a powerful way.
I don't want to be found jumping-to-conclusions myself, but this science could well be a game-changer when it comes to explanatory theories associated with those enigmatic beasts that once roamed the earth!! We'll have to see, but do watch this space for updates...