The Hows and Whys

I am reading a book called "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", which is a collection of Carl Sagan lectures about the universe and the origin of life, among other things. This is an unusually intellectual endeavor for me, I know. But, my Judge gave the book to me, so I am dutifully reading it as "suggested" - and enjoying it more than I thought I would. It reminds me of many questions I have about certain aspects of scientific knowledge. For example, how on earth do we know that a T-Rex couldn't see anything that wasn't moving? All we have are its bones. How can bones tell us about the functions of its eyes and brains? I mean, it can't be the mere position of the eye in the skull that would determine such things, can it? I understand us being able to tell that it can only move its head or arms in certain ways, those are mechanics. But this kind of characteristic seems more neurological than mechanical, like color-blindness. And speaking of that, how do we know that dogs are color-blind? We can't ask them. Even if a dog fails to react differently to different colors, is it necessarily that he can't see them? Maybe he just doesn't care. I am sure that there are thousands of people out there who could explain these concepts to me, and I am sure that Monkey's husband is one of them, but clearly I have never wondered enough to do any specific research into the topics. They are just things that make me go hmmmm. ;-)

Anyway, this book is pretty interesting and easier to read than I expected because of its conversational tone. So if any of you feel the need to get in touch with the nerd inside you, I would highly recommend it.