T-Rex Is Related To Birds Now, And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week: A major shakeup in the dinosaur family tree, a definitive ranking of chicken tenders and an argument for staring at the sun.
It's Kinda Weird That We Can't Just Stare At The Sun
Out of all everything in life, there is just one thing that you physically can't look at: the sun. Which, the Outline's Sam Kriss points out, is kinda crazy, right?
One of the most compelling, otherworldly elements of Lovecraftian fiction is this concept of seeing something so vast and unknowable that it drives you insane. And yet, every dang day you can go outside and gaze upon something so powerful, so immense that it will literally burn your retinas and leave you blind.
Staring directly into the face of power — whether it's the sun or a king — has its consequences, but how else are we to learn?
T-Rex Is Actually More Like A Bird Now
For 130 years there have been three types of dinosaurs. Lizard-like sauropodomorphs and theropods, and bird-like ornithischians. For 130 years, paleontologists have lumped the sauropodomorphs and therapods together one on side of the tree, and ornithischians in the other. And it was good.
Now, a new study suggests that actually, wait, therapods aren't that closely related to sauropodomorphs, but are actually more like the ornithischians. Granted, it might sound like an arbitrary jumble of Greek words, but if this study is to be believed, then our entire understanding of dinosaur lineage has been wrong.
How incredible is it that after over a century of research, we've been running on a false understanding of something. This isn't an indictment of science, but rather a celebration — that even in the year 2017 it's possible to challenge even the most accepted dogma.
Zaxby's Has The Best Chicken Tenders
You might remember a few months back a ranking of chicken nuggets. Now, courtesy of First We Feast's Justin Roberson, we have a ranking of chicken tenders — which are, to be honest, the grown-up version of chicken nuggets.
The chicken tender can withstand multiple dips per tender. You can put it on a salad. You can put it in a sandwich. You can bundle them up with a compliment of fries. It's not crazy to eat them with a fork and a knife. Honestly, they are the superior version of boneless fried chicken.
First We Feast went to eight different places offering tenders — we trust you can guess, or better yet read their full test to find out which ones they are — and found that a combination of breading-to-meat ratio and superior spice blend makes them the superior tender.
So, yeah, store that in your brain the next time you pass a Zaxby's. You can gush to your friends about how good the chicken tenders are, and they will consider you a good friend with good taste in chicken tenders.
A Plane Mysteriously Crashed In Canada With No Pilot
Last week, Canadian authorities were presented with a bit of a head-scratcher. They found a plane crashed on the shore of Lake Superior, but without a pilot. It's not that the plane crashed and the pilot escaped, but rather, there was just no sign of a pilot at all. The plane had, seemingly, crashed without a pilot. Which is a bit odd, because a plane usually needs a pilot to get off the ground.
This Wednesday, authorities managed to connect the downed Cessna 172 to a missing University of Michigan grad student, but there are still so many questions. Was he the one flying it? If he was flying it, how did he not crash with the plane? Did he just jump out? And if he did, why?
[Jalopnik]
Previously on What We Learned This Week
We Should Stop Calling People 'Smart'
There Will Never Be A 'Half-Life 3', And Other Facts
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