NPR⁠84%

Paleontologists discover a 240 million-year-old 'dragon' fossil in full ⁠76%

By Diba Mohtasham⁠0%

2/23/2024, 10:27:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Appeal to Emotion, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 19.4% saturation with 70 hits. Analysis detected 661 faulty-reasoning hits from 361 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 67.4% and a BS Rank of ⁠76% (5,407 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 75.30% of the article peer group.

It's a fitting discovery in the Year of the Dragon: A team of scientists has uncovered a complete fossil of an aquatic reptile that resembles a "Chinese dragon" because of its snake-like appearance and elongated neck. 
The fossil of the Dinocephalosaurus orientalis dates back 240 million years to the Triassic period and was found in the Guizhou Province of southern China. 
While the reptile was first identified in 2003, this latest discovery is more complete — about 16 feet long — and allowed the scientists to depict the strange, prehistoric creature in full for the first time. 
"It is yet one more example of the weird and wonderful world of the Triassic that continues to baffle palaeontologists," said Nick Fraser, head of the National Museum of Scotland's Department of Natural Sciences, in a news release released Friday. 
"We are certain that it will capture imaginations across the globe due to its striking appearance, reminiscent of the long and snake-like, mythical Chinese Dragon." 
Professor Li Chun from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology said the find has been an international effort — the researchers behind the discovery are from Scotland, Germany, America and China. 
The team studied the bizarre reptile at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing. 
Its flippered limbs and exquisitely preserved fish in its stomach indicate the reptile was adapted to the ocean, the researchers said. 
"We used newly discovered specimens housed at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to build on our existing knowledge of this animal," said Chun. 
"Among all of the extraordinary finds we have made in the Triassic of Guizhou Province, Dinocephalosaurus probably stands out as the most remarkable." 
Stephan Spiekman, a postdoctoral researcher based at the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, added that the team hopes future research will help unveil more about the evolution of this group of animals, in particular how the extraordinarily long neck functioned. 
The neck has 32 separate vertebrae — longer than the creature's body and tail combined — and presumably played a key role in feeding, according to a study published by the Cambridge University Press. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 9.4%Diba Mohtasham: 2.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Confirmation Bias9.4%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 2.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 10.0%Diba Mohtasham: 5.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.8%Availability Heuristic10.0%This article: 5.8%Diba Mohtasham: 9.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Representativeness Heuristic5.8%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 16.3%Diba Mohtasham: 12.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.4%Overconfidence Bias16.3%This article: 19.4%Diba Mohtasham: 17.9%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.1%Framing Effect19.4%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 18.3%Diba Mohtasham: 11.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.4%Optimism Bias18.3%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 11.1%Diba Mohtasham: 2.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 11.3%Negativity Bias11.1%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 8.9%Diba Mohtasham: 6.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.3%In-Group Bias8.9%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 6.4%Diba Mohtasham: 1.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Halo Effect6.4%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 10.0%Diba Mohtasham: 7.5%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.7%Recency Bias10.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 18.3%Diba Mohtasham: 29.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.1%Appeal to Authority18.3%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 4.4%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 1.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 18.0%Diba Mohtasham: 16.7%Goats and Soda (NPR): 6.6%Appeal to Emotion18.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 9.4%Diba Mohtasham: 2.3%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Post Hoc (False Cause)9.4%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 2.4%Goats and Soda (NPR): 2.8%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 6.4%Diba Mohtasham: 1.6%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)6.4%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.5%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.3%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 15.5%Diba Mohtasham: 3.8%Goats and Soda (NPR): 3.1%Biased Writer Voice15.5%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.0%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Diba Mohtasham: 0.0%Goats and Soda (NPR): 0.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

361 words analyzed.

Speakers

4speakers51%attributed speech177writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 9 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageNick Fraser • 40 words • 100.0% coverageNick Fraser • 25 words • 0.0% coverageLi Chun • 32 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageChun • 23 words • 0.0% coverageChun • 23 words • 0.0% coverageStephan Spiekman • 41 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Nick Fraser

100%flagged-word coverage
65 attributed words35% of attributed speech86% writer coverage
0%32.5%65.0%Biased Writer Voice+52.5 ptsWriter: 9.0%Nick Fraser: 61.5%61.5%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.