this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
193 points (98.5% liked)

Science Memes

20571 readers
2169 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] zikzak025@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Of course we should be aware of the limits of studying and reconstructing prehistorical species in general

Exactly, and that is to say, that is the entire purpose of the text I mentioned. It's just an exploration on how fossil records leave so little evidence to make truly educated guesses in reconstructions, and the introduction of new evidence changes our perspective so dramatically.

So yes, the models update to try to be more accurate, but it's effectively like saying we went from 10% certain to 12% certain. There are still too many unknowables. And should additional evidence come to light at some point in the future, we must assume the possibility that the current depictions will eventually seem just as comically wrong.