[Bernard Marx]

I don't know of any attempts to create a "feminist paleontology" or similar such nonsense.

I'm not saying that. But people in the field seem to depend more and more on popularized hype to gain funding or enhance their reputations. We're seeing more of the scientist-as-Indiana Jones stuff.

One example who comes immediately to mind is the ever-flamboyant Jack Horner who served as technical adviser on the movie Jurassic Park. He never misses a chance to jump before the TV cameras to promote his notion that dinosaurs are birds. I think he's probably right but I wonder if these issues should be fought out in public instead of in dusty and dull peer-reviewed technical publications.

[js1138]

We're seeing more of the scientist-as-Indiana Jones stuff.

I'm at a loss as to how you could have more than in the past. I think Indy is just a slight exaggeration of some of the characters from the 1930s and before.