DISSERTATION RESEARCH: New Insights on the Evolution of Flight in Dinosaurs Using CT and PET Technology

鸟类是现存的兽脚亚目（肉食性）恐龙，众所周知，使鸟类能够飞行的一整套羽毛和翅膀特征首先是在非鸟类恐龙中进化出来的。然而，由于大脑不会直接变成化石，我们对飞行的神经控制系统的进化理解远远落后。幸运的是，先进的成像技术，如计算机断层扫描？哪个图像的骨骼和化石内部的数字娱乐？和正电子发射断层扫描？在规定的行为中测量大脑活动的方法是什么？现在我们可以把大脑大小和形状的解剖学变化与大脑使用的行为模式结合起来。该项目将利用这些工具来研究现代鸟类大脑中飞行活跃部分的进化如何促进了恐龙向飞行的过渡。这项研究的高度综合性质将是变革性的，因为它解决了脊椎动物进化的重大转变，并影响了神经科学和古生物学。传播将通过研究人员以英语和西班牙语进行。该网站旨在鼓励年轻女性和少数族裔从事科学事业。此外，广泛的推广将通过美国自然历史博物馆和合作机构（哥伦比亚大学，布鲁克海文国家实验室）进行。

Birds are living theropod (carnivorous) dinosaurs and the suite of plumage and wing features that enable bird flight are well known to have evolved first in non-avian dinosaurs. Because brains do not directly fossilize, however, our evolutionary understanding of the neurological control system for flight has lagged far behind. Fortuitously, advanced imaging techniques, such as Computerized Tomography scanning ? which images the interior of bone and fossils for digital recreation ? and Positron Emission Tomography scanning ? which measures brain activity during prescribed behaviors ? now make it possible to pair anatomical changes in the size and shape of the brain with behavioral patterns of brain use. This project will adapt these tools to address how the evolution of flight-active parts of the modern avian brain contributed to the dinosaurian transition to flight.The highly integrative nature of this research will be transformative as it addresses a major transition in vertebrate evolution, and impacts neuroscience and paleobiology. Dissemination will occur in both English and Spanish through the researcher?s website, designed as a platform for encouraging young women and minorities to pursue scientific careers. Additional, broad outreach will take place through the American Museum of Natural History and collaborating institutions (Columbia University, Brookhaven National Laboratory).