Smithsonian article response

Brian Switek

"How Scientist Are Recreating a Mating Call Last Heard in the Jurassic Period"

Response by Michael Babyak

Abstract:

This article is about how entomologists are making a set of insect wings that are preserved in stone chirp again. They used an expert of biological sounds to recreate on a computer what the insect would have sounded like based on the information they had stored in the fossil of the insect. 

Memorable Quote:

“I think if we were able to travel back in time to the Jurassic, we would hear a very noisy environment at night with insect calls perhaps similar to what we hear today but noisier to our ears, as many will be at low frequencies,”

Evaluative Response:

Although the author seems as though there way of replicating the sound is 100% authentic I have reason to doubt it. It seems like there's no real way to know how true the sound is unless we go back in time. The technology they used basically guessed what the sound of the insect would make but since the insect is from so long ago we really have no way to prove that the sound is right or not.

Personal Response: 

This article intrigued me because it deals with the past. It's something so far in the past too that we really have no clue about. I like when we uncover new things about time periods that we have little to no information about. Also it's interesting to think how life was like back then and by finding out the sound that an insect made, that's getting us one step closer to learning more about the world long ago.