So a recent Nature journal paper on evolution tracks all the paths taken by the dinosaurs as they expanded out of South America during their rise to world dominance. This has caught the attention of many popular science articles, wherein they report that:

the research shows that the speed of this expansion meant that the dinosaurs quickly became cosmopolitan and subsequently ran out of land. This lack of space then seriously impeded their ability to produce new species.

“There was nowhere new for species to move to, which may have prevented new species from arising, contributing to the dinosaurs’ pre-asteroid decline. In essence, they were perhaps too successful for their own good.”

Now I don’t agree with the above. Just because they had occupied all possible (habitable) land on Earth does not mean the species started declining as a whole. That implies the human species is at a decline (well, to be fair, one could argue that is true with the rise of Trump, the Karni Sena, cringe-pop, etc, and their popularity). Just because new species might no longer be evolving be evolving does not mean the old ones cannot survive. They’ll evolve, adapt, thrive. That the planet might no longer be able to support them is a different thing, but the demi-god Elon Musk is working on that (shout-out to the successful Falcon Heavy launch last night!).

<rant>

Apart from this, there was something else that really bugged me. As you might have noticed, I’ve quoted from one of those popular science articles.

Why?

Because that is the only way I can access this research. Seriously? Seriously? The subscription is a mere $99…!

Now this is the time I realise the how arXiv.org has served as a boon for the research community, with I being fortunate that the computer science community has embraced this free and open platform where anyone and everyone can publish their research. Now we all know that it has it’s flipside, having to sift through hundreds of new papers being posted every single day (with the quality of papers inspiring memes like this one), but atleast every paper (good or otherwise) one needs is available online for free without either you or your institution (if you’re lucky enough) having to pay for it…

</rant>