Spare a thought for the palaeontologist. Like many a scientist she will — based on some initial data — put forward a hypothesis if you will. However, there is rarely a sure-fire way to test the theory, few experiments prove — say, that dinosaurs had feathers. (While Jurassic Park would have people believe otherwise, there is now more evidence to suggest that many dinosaurs did in fact, have plumage.) Fresh fossil finds, genetic sequencing and even how contemporary animals have adapted and evolved — the most sophisticated of clues rarely help form a complete picture of the life on Earth in the distant past. There is now, though, the possibility of a mechanical cheat code to solve the mysteries of biology — past and future.
The scientists of the distant past have, for long, been given short shrift — so much of the world they study is left to the imagination, in terms of its sensory impact. While “dinobot” may seem like the title of a cheap monster movie, both the past and future, palaeontology and sci-fi have evoked wonder for generations. Jurassic Park, of course, will always be fiction. But a Jurassic lab may just be around the corner.
