2990: Late Cenozoic - Revision history

82.132.246.120: Undo revision 389371 by 213.179.159.250 (talk) This is the title text... See Trivia

2025-10-23T14:15:36Z

Undo revision 389371 by 213.179.159.250 (talk) This *is* the title text... See Trivia

213.179.159.250 at 13:09, 23 October 2025

2025-10-23T13:09:17Z

2A01:E0A:1F4:9050:6601:2AA9:4171:3098: /* Explanation */

2025-08-19T12:46:30Z

‎Explanation

82.132.245.50: /* Transcript */ Contextually, they must all be seating platforms, but maybe also working surfaces. No reason why tentacleform aliens like this would require separate seat-surfaces and table-surfaces like we tend to, or separate their function.

2025-07-22T15:07:56Z

‎Transcript: Contextually, they must all be seating platforms, but maybe also working surfaces. No reason why tentacleform aliens like this would require separate seat-surfaces and table-surfaces like we tend to, or separate their function.

Giraffequeries: Fixed the transcript, hopefully this is what the explainxkcd gods said by "fixing" (gave the aliens themselves a description, other small edits etc etc)

2025-07-22T11:20:37Z

Fixed the transcript, hopefully this is what the explainxkcd gods said by "fixing" (gave the aliens themselves a description, other small edits etc etc)

92.23.2.228: Don't swap one alias for another (still not very obvious?) alias. Putting the OG template in here, instead.

2025-06-18T21:29:09Z

Don't swap one alias for another (still not very obvious?) alias. Putting the OG template in here, instead.

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

2025-06-18T07:25:24Z

‎Explanation

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

2025-01-16T12:04:00Z

‎Explanation

162.158.137.212: Undo revision 356899 by NOTRUMPWON2024MAGAFORLIFE (talk) rv vandalism

2024-11-14T23:51:48Z

Undo revision 356899 by NOTRUMPWON2024MAGAFORLIFE (talk) rv vandalism

NOTRUMPWON2024MAGAFORLIFE at 23:39, 14 November 2024

2024-11-14T23:39:41Z

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | imagesize = 303x396px
 | noexpand  = true
-| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techniques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
+| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techinques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
 }}

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | imagesize = 303x396px
 | noexpand  = true
-| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techinques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
+| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techniques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
 }}

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 The title of the strip refers to the {{w|Cenozoic}} era, which is the current geological era. The term "late Cenozoic" implies some geological change would occur significant enough to warrant designating a new era; either these changes led to the end of human civilization or are in fact spurred by them.
-The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA found in these fossils led to them theorizing dinosaurs ate humans. When reconstructing fossils, resin is often used to recreate missing or incomplete bones amongst other purposes in assembling and displaying a "complete" skeleton. Since this resin is made and mixed by humans,{{Citation neededT}} incidental human DNA sources (such as cast off skin cells and hair) almost certainly get mixed in, leading to this misconception.
+The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA found in these fossils led to them theorizing dinosaurs ate humans. When reconstructing fossils, resin is often used to recreate missing or incomplete bones amongst other purposes in assembling and displaying a "complete" skeleton. Since this resin is made and mixed by humans,{{Citation needed}} incidental human DNA sources (such as cast off skin cells and hair) almost certainly get mixed in, leading to this misconception.
 A similar museum, misunderstood by humans instead of this other species, is depicted in [[2760: Paleontology Museum]].

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ==Transcript==
-:[Three aliens sit in a classroom. Each of the aliens has an oval-ish body ending in multiple tentacles, striped eye stalks ending in eyes with an iris and pupil, and a small mouth represented by a few vertical, close-together lines. One alien sits on a desk in front of a board covered with minute text and drawings of a T-Rex and a (presumably) Triceratops skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools equally high as the desk watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left points at the board with one tentacle.]
+:[Three aliens sit in a classroom. Each of the aliens has an oval-ish body ending in multiple tentacles, striped eye stalks ending in eyes with an iris and pupil, and a small mouth represented by a few vertical, close-together lines. One alien sits on a desk-like platform in front of a board covered with minute text and drawings of a T-Rex and a (presumably) Triceratops skeleton. Two aliens sit on platforms equally high as the desk-like one, but with a single narrow stool-like leg, watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left points at the board with one tentacle.]
 :Left alien: Species such as triceratops and tyrannosaurus became more rare after the Cretaceous, but they survived to flourish in the late Cenozoic, 66 million years later.
 :Left alien: Many complete skeletons have been discovered from this era.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ==Transcript==
-:[Three squid-like aliens in a classroom; one alien stands in front of a board covered with minute text and a drawing of a T-Rex skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left is on a raised platform and points at the board with one tentacle.]
+:[Three aliens sit in a classroom. Each of the aliens has an oval-ish body ending in multiple tentacles, striped eye stalks ending in eyes with an iris and pupil, and a small mouth represented by a few vertical, close-together lines. One alien sits on a desk in front of a board covered with minute text and drawings of a T-Rex and a (presumably) Triceratops skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools equally high as the desk watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left points at the board with one tentacle.]
 :Left alien: Species such as triceratops and tyrannosaurus became more rare after the Cretaceous, but they survived to flourish in the late Cenozoic, 66 million years later.
 :Left alien: Many complete skeletons have been discovered from this era.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 A major part of understanding how life-forms existed and operated in the past involves finding fossilized remains, and working out a timeline of when they lived, based on the sediment layers in which they were found (among other factors). Modern paleontology has resulted in many of these fossilized remains being dug up and assembled into complete skeletons, which are frequently put on display in museums and other facilities.
-This comic posits a future in which the remains of current civilization become buried in sediment, likely as a result of humanity going extinct so as to allow the premise of this comic to occur. Modern science estimates nearly all human-made activity - glass, concrete, steel - would erase to nothing within at most 1000 years (see ''Life After People'' and ''The World Without Us''),  meaning that any future life-forms, extraterrestrial or evolved modern-day species, would be hard pressed to find anything that suggested this planet used to be inhabited by humans, save for some microplastics, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fADp43wJwU| nuclear waste] and - in this scenario - preserved dinosaur bones, apparently.
+This comic posits a future in which the remains of current civilization become buried in sediment, likely as a result of humanity going extinct so as to allow the premise of this comic to occur. Modern science estimates nearly all human-made activity - glass, concrete, steel - would erase to nothing within at most 1000 years (see ''Life After People'' and ''The World Without Us''),  meaning that any future life-forms, extraterrestrial or evolved modern-day species, would be hard pressed to find anything that suggested this planet used to be inhabited by humans, save for some microplastics, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fADp43wJwU nuclear waste] and, in this scenario, preserved dinosaur bones, apparently.
 While a question may arise as to why exactly no dinosaur fossils can be found in the intervening ~66 million years (which we know is because they went extinct and later ones were actually dug up by a different species), the real-life fossil record is quite sporadic, meaning such gaps should not be seen as unusual (these gaps are termed {{w|Lazarus taxon}}s).
-The title of the strip refers to the {{w|Cenozoic}} era, which is the current geological era. The term "late Cenozoic" implies some geological change would occur significant enough to warrant designating a new era ; either these changes led to the end of human civilization or are in fact spurred by them.
+The title of the strip refers to the {{w|Cenozoic}} era, which is the current geological era. The term "late Cenozoic" implies some geological change would occur significant enough to warrant designating a new era; either these changes led to the end of human civilization or are in fact spurred by them.
 The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA found in these fossils led to them theorizing dinosaurs ate humans. When reconstructing fossils, resin is often used to recreate missing or incomplete bones amongst other purposes in assembling and displaying a "complete" skeleton. Since this resin is made and mixed by humans,{{fact}} incidental human DNA sources (such as cast off skin cells and hair) almost certainly get mixed in, leading to this misconception.

2990: Late Cenozoic - Revision history

82.132.246.120: Undo revision 389371 by 213.179.159.250 (talk) This *is* the title text... See Trivia

213.179.159.250 at 13:09, 23 October 2025

2A01:E0A:1F4:9050:6601:2AA9:4171:3098: /* Explanation */

82.132.245.50: /* Transcript */ Contextually, they must all be seating platforms, but maybe also working surfaces. No reason why tentacleform aliens like this would require separate seat-surfaces and table-surfaces like we tend to, or separate their function.

Giraffequeries: Fixed the transcript, hopefully this is what the explainxkcd gods said by "fixing" (gave the aliens themselves a description, other small edits etc etc)

92.23.2.228: Don't swap one alias for another (still not very obvious?) alias. Putting the OG template in here, instead.

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

162.158.137.212: Undo revision 356899 by NOTRUMPWON2024MAGAFORLIFE (talk) rv vandalism

NOTRUMPWON2024MAGAFORLIFE at 23:39, 14 November 2024

82.132.246.120: Undo revision 389371 by 213.179.159.250 (talk) This is the title text... See Trivia