There`s been way too much hyperbole. To get back to any good science you`ve got to get away from that and get back to the bench, ... I think the field is ripe for some young scientist who doesn`t have any cemented views to come in and look at this and paint it with a brand-new brush.
The fiber-collagen meshwork looked virtually identical to these so-called `proto-feathers` found in the Chinese dinosaurs.
The age dates for these things are still unresolved, ... We need to back up and take a closer look at these things before drawing any final conclusions.
The whole thing had become circular -- birds are dinosaurs, so whatever we find on dinosaurs that looks like a rudimentary feather has got to represent the origin of feathers.
The question is, which three? In dinosaurs we know it`s the thumb and the next two fingers,