Ira Flatow

Hey, it's Ira Flato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Birds are dinosaurs.

It's something we hear a lot from experts, especially if you listen to this show.

But you've got to admit that looking at a backyard sparrow does not quite evoke the same awe as the dino bones in the museum do, right?

Well, my next guest urges you to just get over it.

Rethink birds and give them the same credit as their fearful ancestors.

Steve Brussati is a paleontologist and author of the new book, The Story of Birds, a new history from their dinosaur origins to the present.

He's based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Welcome back, Steve.

Good to have you back.

You know, I think of you more as a dinosaur guy, as we have talked over the years.

Why change suddenly your focus to birds?

Never more, you might say.

So how does the evolution work?

Give us an idea here, because not all dinosaurs became birds, right?

Well, didn't we already have flying dinosaurs like Archaeopteryx?

I mean, were they not birds?

Or what's the difference in the definitions?

Well, if velociraptors, for example, had feathers, why didn't they just develop wings and fly?

Well, is it because those big dinosaurs died out after the collision on Earth and the little ones survived?