By Donald R. Prothero
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The author of a new book on dinosaurs laments the demise of his discipline
[Published 14th August 2009 02:54 PM GMT]
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Even before Jurassic Park brought dinosaurs to cinematic life, the ancient reptiles were fascinating to most people, especially kids. These days, mountains of books, toys and other paraphernalia are marketed to kids between ages 2 and 10. Most youngsters know Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops by sight, and many have mastered hundreds of arcane paleontological names as well. People assume that with all this dinophilia, and with all the money spent on dinosaur paraphernalia, paleontology must be rolling in dough. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, paleontology in the US and in most of Europe is starved for funds and jobs, and in many places paleontology is on its way to extinction.
就算沒有侏儸紀公園這一系列的電影，古老的爬行動物也早就吸引許多人的注意，尤其是小孩子。有很多的書籍、玩具和各式各樣的商品標記著兩歲到十歲適用。大多數的年輕人都知道什麼是Tyrannosaurus rex和Triceratops，甚至有許多人對於好幾百個不常見的古生物名詞瞭若指掌。人們都以為有這麼多錢花在恐龍的商品上，古生物學應該非常有錢途，但是實際上，古生物學的領域在美國和歐洲非常欠缺經費和職位，其實古生物學本身正跟它的研究目標一樣邁向滅絕。
The best argument I've heard that explains the near unanimous childhood fascination with dinosaurs can be put in three words: "big," "real," and "extinct." Dinosaurs are like the dragons and monsters of childhood imagination. They were real, but they're not too scary, since they're now extinct. In some cases, kids who can memorize hundreds of bits of dinosaur trivia feel empowered, especially when they know something that the adults in their lives don't. Teachers know that talking about dinosaurs gets kids interested in science, and that they are an effective gateway to promote scientific thinking and literacy.
我曾聽過幾乎所有的小孩一致同意為什麼他們喜歡恐龍的原因可以用三個字來說明：巨大、真實、滅絕。恐龍在小孩子們的想像中其實就像是龍或其他怪獸一樣，不過恐龍更真實，但是卻不那麼嚇人，因為他們已經絕種了。有時候小孩子會記得好幾百件關於恐龍的瑣事，尤其是那些大人都不知道的事情。老師們知道談到恐龍就可以引起小孩們對於科學的興趣，而也是促使小孩去學習科學思考和科學讀寫能力的有效管道。
Somehow, as toddlers become teens, the fascination with dinosaurs (like other childhood interests) wanes. Dinosaurs are no longer considered cool, and most American adolescents lose interest in science as well. By the time they reach their late teens, most students take chemistry or biology only because those courses are required. Most American teachers know they're fighting an uphill battle to keep students focused on science.
然而，當兒童變成青少年，恐龍的吸引力就逐漸衰退了。恐龍不再是那麼酷的東西，而且美國的青少年也在科學上失去了興趣。到了青少年晚期，大多數的學生修了化學課或是生物課只是因為這些課程是必修的。大多數美國的老師們都知道要維持學生把注意力放在科學上是多麼大的挑戰。
Nonetheless, interest in dinosaurs and paleontology is still widespread, if attendance at natural history museums is any indicator. But the job market for paleontologists in most countries is abysmal and getting worse, threatening the entire field with extinction (for more details, see my new book, Greenhouse of the Dinonsaurs, Chapter 10). In the US, fewer than one in ten graduate students (who spend at least ten years in college getting a hard-earned PhD) find a job as a professional paleontologist, either in a museum or a teaching job that allows research. When a paleontologist retires from a university, she's typically not replaced by another paleontologist. In many cases, generations of accumulated knowledge and expertise are lost because there are no jobs and therefore no students to learn from aging mentors.
雖然如此，如果把自然史博物館的參觀者當成一個指標的話，恐龍和古生物學還是很受歡迎的。不過古生物學家的工作市場在大多數國家卻都是越來越緊縮了，整個領域面臨了滅絕的威脅（想知道細節可以看作者Greenhouse of the Dinonsaurs書中的第十章）。在美國，不到一成的畢業生可以成為專業的古生物學家，也就是在他們至少花了十年的辛苦研究和學習之後，可能還無法找到博物館或教育界的研究工作。當一個古生物學家從大學退休之後，通常不會有另一個古生物學家來取代那個位置。在大多數的狀況下，下一代對於古生物學的知識累積和專家的養成機會都消失了，因為沒有工作機會，所以沒有學生願意跟隨這些年老的教授學習。
In addition, there is very little grant funding available for paleontological research. There are at best only a few hundred professional paleontologists around the world, and they must scrape by on shoestring budgets. Though dinosaur merchandise undoubtedly generates piles of cash, none of it actually supports the scientists who made all those realistic toys, books and movies possible.
此外，在古生物學領域的研究經費贊助也非常稀少，全世界只有幾百位專業的古生物學家，而他們在研究的預算上都非常的拮据。雖然恐龍的商品無疑的可以創造許多的金錢收入，但是這些錢完全不會對科學家有任何實際的支持，無論是玩具、書籍或是電影。
Why is this so? The major US science funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tend to favor projects with big machines, big staffing requirements, and big budgets. Paleontology fits none of these descriptions. I have been on NSF panels that reviewed and ranked proposals from paleontologists, sedimentologists, and many other types of geologists. Fewer than 20% of hundreds of outstanding proposals by first-rate researchers were funded, and paleontologists got almost none of this money. And as long as paleontology cannot compete on an equal funding level, departments have little incentive to keep a paleontologist on staff.
為什麼會這樣？美國的主要科學研究經費提供單位，像是國家科學委員會（NSF）和國家衛生研究院（NIH）都比較喜歡那些需要貴重儀器、龐大研究團隊和大筆預算的研究計畫，可是古生物學可以說完全不符合這些準則。我曾經當NSF的審查委員，對古生物學家和沉積物學家等許多領域的地質學家研究計畫進行審查和排名，可是幾百個研究計畫裡面卻只有不到20%的計畫被列為第一級，並且獲得補助，而這之中古生物學家幾乎完全沒有獲得經費。當古生物學越來越無法取得公平競爭的機會時，研究單位就越來越沒有理由把古生物學家留在研究團隊裡面了。
There are lots of practical reasons why paleontology remains important and merits a place at the academic "high table." For one thing, paleontology is the only direct record we have of life's history, and how evolution actually occurred. As George Gaylord Simpson put it in 1944: "Experimental biology...may reveal what happens to a hundred rats in the course of ten years under fixed and simple conditions, but not what happened to a billion rats in the course of ten million years under the fluctuating conditions of natural history. Obviously, the latter problem is more important."
有很多實務上的理由可以讓大家知道為什麼古生物學仍然是很重要的，而且在學術上他們應該有一定的地位。首先，古生物學是我們對生命歷史以及演化真的發生過的唯一直接證據，George Gaylord Simpson在1944年就說：「實驗生物學或許可以告訴我們幾百隻老鼠時年內在固定而簡單的條件下會發生什麼事情，但是在不斷變動的條件下，十億隻老鼠在過去一千萬年發生或什麼事情就不是實驗生物學可以做到的。而很明顯的，後面這個問題比前面的還要重要。」
Paleontology is also central to geology. There are hundreds of paleontologists in the employ of the oil industry. Without their efforts over the past century, most of our great economic boom from oil discoveries would never have happened. Despite the best efforts of geochronologists, fossils are still the only practical means of dating most stratified rocks around the world.
此外，古生物學也是地質學的中心學門。在石油工業有好幾百位的古生物學家被聘請，沒有這些古生物學家過去一世紀的努力，我們因為石油而推動的經濟巨大發展根本就不會發生。儘管地質年代學者非常努力，化石仍然是全世界岩層定年的唯一方法。
Above all, paleontology is fascinating in its own right. Without the efforts of hard-working paleontologists, we would not have these extinct beasts to marvel at in museums. They give us a different perspective, and a more humbling and less arrogant view of our place in nature. Without paleontologists, these amazing extinct creatures would not be available to excite and stimulate the next generation of scientists we so desperately need.
沒有古生物學家的努力，我們就不會有那些滅絕的怪獸出現在博物館裡面。他們給我們一個不同的視野， 可以更謙卑而不傲慢的去看待自然。沒有古生物學家，這些令人感到驚奇的生物就無法去刺激下一個世代的科學家對科學產生興趣。
Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet, by Donald R. Prothero, Columbia University Press, New York, 2009. 288 pp. ISBN: 978-0-231-14660-9. $29.50.
Donald R. Prothero is Professor of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He is currently the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 25 books and over 200 scientific papers. He has also been featured on several television documentaries, including episodes of Paleoworld (BBC), Prehistoric Monsters Revealed (History Channel), Entelodon and Hyaenodon (National Geographic Channel) and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts (BBC).
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