Folks, Most of you will have heard by now of the terrible piece that BBC Radio 4, a trusted news source, ran yesterday on Brian J. Ford's crackpot "theory" that all dinosaur were semi-aquatic to support their weight. A good, sober summary is provided here: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/04/aquatic-dinosaurs-not-so-fast/ Because Radio 4 is a trusted source, it's important that it not spout nonsense like this. There is a danger that its credibility will be damaged. If a journal were to publish such rubbish, it would be forced to follow up with a formal retraction, and I want to ask Radio 4 to do the same thing. Here is the letter I plan to send: ------------ begin letter ------------ Dear Radio 4, The Today Programme for Tuesday 3rd April 2012 contained a science piece by Tom Feilden: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9710000/9710630.stm regarding Professor Brian J. Ford's "theory" that dinosaurs did not live on land but in shallow lakes which supported their weight. Professor Ford's theory was published in a magazine rather than a peer-reviewed journal, and is wholly unsupported by any evidence whatever. It contradicts all evidence from dinosaur anatomy, biomechanics, sedimentology and palaeoenvironments, and does not even qualify as fringe science. It is unsupported and uninformed speculation which Ford could have disproved had he taken just ten minutes to look at the readily available literature representing a century of consensus. By giving air-time to this speculation, even comparing Ford with Galileo, Radio 4 has unfortunately lent it a credibility that it has not earned, introduced a time-wasting controversy where there is not a controversy, misled the public, and maybe most important compromised its own credibility as a trusted source of science reporting. No listener with any knowledge of palaeontology will have been able to take this report seriously; will they believe the next science report you broadcast? To mitigate this damage, we recommend and request that you broadcast a formal retraction. ------------ end letter ------------ Obviously such a request will have more force if it is signed by multiple palaeontologists, so if you agree with the letter below and would like to sign, please email nme at , giving your name, qualification, department and affiliation, like this: Dr. Mike Taylor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, UK. In 24 hours (at 2pm on Thursday 5th April), I will append all the signatures I have been sent, and send the result to Radio 4. (Please do not suggest changes to the letter. I'm sure it's not perfect, but it has to stand as it is since this is the version I am inviting people to sign. I can't collect signatures for one version, then send a different one, even if it's better than the original. Exception: do point out any typos.) Thanks, -- Mike.