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Brusatte Launches T. Rex Cognition Project Linking Birds, Dinosaurs

4/27/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Prof Steve Brusatte of Edinburgh launched a project to infer T. rex cognition.
He said birds are dinosaurs, feathers evolved for insulation before displays, and the 66-million-year-old asteroid that ended the dinosaurs left birds alive.
He highlighted terror birds 10 feet tall with heads and sharp beaks.
Research shows a quail embryo has a theropod pelvis, and that adding dinosaur genes to chicken embryos can produce teeth but the chicks die.

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Story summary

Prof Steve Brusatte of Edinburgh launched a project to infer T. rex cognition.
He said birds are dinosaurs, feathers evolved for insulation before displays, and the 66-million-year-old asteroid that ended the dinosaurs left birds alive.
He highlighted terror birds 10 feet tall with heads and sharp beaks.
Research shows a quail embryo has a theropod pelvis, and that adding dinosaur genes to chicken embryos can produce teeth but the chicks die.