![]() ![]() “We tested 35 samples of fossil bones, eggshells, and teeth to learn whether they preserve proteinaceous soft tissues, find out their chemical composition, and determine under what conditions they were able to survive for millions of years.” “We took on the challenge of understanding protein fossilization,” said Yale paleontologist Jasmina Wiemann, the study’s lead author. The local browning of the otherwise translucent sample represents the formation N-heterocyclic polymers. ![]() These soft tissues are composed mainly of proteins, which are believed to completely degrade within about four million years.Įxperimental maturation initiates glycoxidation/lipoxidation in a fresh eggshell matrix sample. ![]() Soft tissues, such as blood vessels, cells, and nerves - which are stored inside the hard tissue - are more delicate and thought to decay rapidly after death. Hard tissues, such as bones, eggs, teeth, and enamel scales, are able to survive fossilization extremely well. It’s a process that may help researchers understand how soft-tissue cells inside dinosaur bones can survive for hundreds of millions of years.Ī research team from Yale, the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Brussels, and the University of Bonn announced the discovery on November 9 in the journal Nature Communications.įossil soft tissue in dinosaur bones has been a controversial topic among researchers for quite some time. They both contain chemicals that, under the right conditions, transform original proteins into something new. Credit: Jasmina Wiemann/Yale Universityīurnt toast and dinosaur bones have a common trait, according to a new, Yale-led study. The extract comes from a sauropod dinosaur in Howe Stephen’s Quarry, U.S. These structures have perfect morphological preservation over hundreds of millions of years, but are chemically transformed through oxidative crosslinking. Dinosaur blood vessel with adjacent bone matrix that still contains bone cells. ![]()
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