Jingmai O'Connor: Dinosaurs – Past//Present//Future

This year marks 200 years since Richard Owen coined the word dinosaur. Since then, our knowledge of dinosaurs has broadened exponentially, and now we know they are one of the most successful evolutionary lineages on the planet.

New discoveries and technologies have fundamentally changed our ability to study extinct animals, revealing biological details such as color or metabolic rate. Lagerstätten (sedimentary deposits) discovered in the last century reveal well-preserved soft tissue structures, including organs, feathers, and even their last meal. Studying this information allows us to understand dinosaurs not just as skeletons of imposing creatures, but as living, breathing organisms. With the next mass extinction on the horizon, studying dinosaur fossils and the secrets they hold is becoming more important than ever.