解剖学家竭力使恐龙化石具体化

Accurately¹ depicting² dinosaur³ anatomy⁴（解剖学） has come a long way since the science fiction films of the 1960s. In celebration of the American Association of Anatomists' (AAA) 125th anniversary, renowned⁵ dinosaur anatomy expert Dr. Lawrence Witmer will deliver a lecture reflecting on the AAA's first President Joseph Leidy, also a preeminent⁶（卓越的） American dinosaur paleontologist, and the modernizing⁷ of prehistoric⁸ bones. Witmer will show how the Visible Interactive⁹ Dinosaur (VID) project recreates soft-tissue systems within a 3D digital environment. VID, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a global project that aims to digitally put back all of the tissues that time has stripped away to create the most realistic renderings¹⁰ of dinosaurs¹¹ science has seen.

 

"Nature has left us bones," said Witmer. "We need to flesh them out, put back muscles, nerves, sinuses（鼻窦）, and animate¹² the skeleton. VID does that. We look at animals today, starting with dinosaur descendants -- birds and crocodiles -- and we study them to have an understanding of how the dinosaur jaw¹³ worked, and what their brain structure was," he added.

 

"Hollywood has been bringing dinosaurs to life for years, but as scientists we can do it in a controlled way to see how these anatomical systems actually work," said Witmer. "Dinosaurs present interesting problems; the solutions help explain scientific issues in physiology¹⁴（生理学） and anatomy, such as how does a 50-ton animal move around? How did they pump blood to a head 30 ft away?" The answers inform today's anatomy questions.

 

Dr. Witmer sees the work of VID as having a dual¹⁵ purpose -- helping¹⁶ other paleontologists and educating, even inspiring, the public about physiology and anatomy.

 

"The study of dinosaurs is important because it allows us to reach people about science. The fact is, dinosaurs are popular but science is still considered 'hard' by many people. So one of the missions of VID is to use dinosaurs as a tool to excite people about anatomy and science. We lure¹⁷ them with dinosaurs and sneak¹⁸ in cool science," he said. The result is a win for both scientific advancement¹⁹ and science advocacy（主张，拥护）.

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