Word: paradoxus
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...coarse to take imprints of soft tissues and delicate structures, so there's no way of knowing whether Mei long had feathers. But other strata of the Liaoning fossil beds are much finer grained. That's where paleontologists found the feathered tyrannosaur, which Xu and Norell named Dilong paradoxus ("surprising emperor dragon"). It's one of the oldest known tyrannosaurs, and one of the emu-size specimens has unmistakable traces of primitive feathers on its tail and jaw. Those filaments, which are about three-quarters of an inch long and branched like modern feathers, are the first direct evidence that...
...know the difference between an Eastern and a Western backhand? How about a pulsus bisferiens and a pulsus paradoxus? Have you ever considered relating an Eastern backhand to a pulsus paradoxus, and then using that relationship as a metaphor for the complexities of human existence? "Why would you want to" might be the more pertinent question, but for Abraham Verghese, such metaphors tell his story...
...Ornithorhynchus, commonly known as the duck-billed platypus of Australia, were handed over to Alexander Agassiz in 1878 by E. Gerrard Jr. Those first specimens are skeletal parts and they are catalogued, down to the last tibia, in a small hand in black ink under the title Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus...
Until the 20th century, the platypus was scientifically known as Paradoxus because it is such a baffling creature. It lays eggs, has a toothless bill and its feet are webbed. But it also has fur and a diaphragm, the females suckle their young, and the males have foreskins--all of which are characteristic of mammals. The platypus was discovered in Australian backwaters by westerners in 1797, long after aborigines had cultivated a spiritual respect for the creature. When the first specimens were shipped to England, scientists tried to pry off the bill, because they were convinced it was a graft...
...among financiers and businessmen is so remarkable that the cheer leaders of low literature . . . and the sob sisters move down upon his abode in echelon formation. ... In the arts the matter is notorious. There are young geniuses and child prodigies, who are admired like the aardvark and the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, but all the solid and enduring work is done by men who have lived long enough to have mastered their metier and life itself...
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