Scientists Dispute Claims of Converting Bird Beaks Into Dinosaur Snouts

Carl Zimmer in the New York Times reports some provocative-sounding news under an attention-grabbing headline: "Reverse Engineering Birds' Beaks into Dinosaur Bones." Zimmer asserts: "In a study published in the journal Evolution, they report that they have found a way to turn the beaks of chicken embryos back into dinosaur-like snouts." That would be significant, if true.

But commenting on the same journal article, Nature tells a different story. Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, one of the main scienti...