We live in a geometric world. From the rectangular skylines of our cities and the orbiting planets of our solar system to the symmetry of butterfly wings and the spiraling double helix of DNA, every shape has its place.
For as long as he can remember, Ryosuke Motani has been fascinated by shapes. And he’s built an illustrious paleobiology career studying them.
Modern birds and mammals are “warm-blooded” or endothermic, maintaining a constant body temperature and generating heat internally, while reptiles rely on heat from their surroundings. It has been known for some time that at least some dinosaurs, including the direct ancestors of modern birds, were also endotherms.
Working in the lab of Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Ryosuke Motani, doctoral candidate Benjamin Faulkner is exploring how plant-eating developed in diapsids, a lineage that includes dinosaurs and modern day lizards, snakes, turtles, birds and crocodilians.
