China to Host Int'l Conference on Avian PaleontologyChina is to host an international conference on avian paleontology and fossilized creatures found in the country on June 1-4.The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology will organize the Fifth International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution and the Symposium on Jehol Biota. More than 70 world and 80 Chinese paleontologists are expected to participate in the meeting. The general program of the meeting will consist of oral presentations of the latest findings and research, Zhou said, and a symposium and round-table discussion on the origin and early evolution of birds are also planned. Possible discussion topics include the relationship between Confuciusornis and enantiornithines, dinosaurs and birds, the nature of the "feather" or "fiber-like" filaments in Sinosauropteryx, and the relationship between the origin of birds and origin of flight. The British journal Nature and the U.S.-based Science, two of the most prestigious scientific journals, have published many research papers and news reports on these topics. France, the United States, and Germany hosted the previous meetings. |
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