 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
San Francisco (UPI) May 11, 2010 Stanford University scientists said they used an X-ray beam to confirm that Archaeopteryx, the "flying dinosaur," really had feathers. The scientists in San Francisco identified key chemicals in the dinosaur's 150 million-year-old bones and wings, and in its soft tissue, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday. The presence of the chemicals means the feathery impressions in the rock that fossilized Archaeopteryx actually were left by real feathers that had evolved for flight. The scientists report they now have a tool to investigate fossilized tissues of other prehistoric life forms. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences led a group headed by physicist Ewe Bergmann, of the Synchrotron Radiation Light Source SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, published a report on the work Monday. "The sensitivity of the light source can tell us so much about the chemical composition of whatever we shine it on that we're really excited about the future of what we can do," said Bergmann. "The important thing is the finding of original feather material in the specimen, plus establishing that you can get good signals of things like iron, sulfur and phosphorus from fossils hundreds of millions of years old," said University of California dinosaur expert Kevin Padian. The Chronicle reported that some paleontologists insisted the feather material in the fossils was really some other sort of tissue, and they still think that birds are not "modern dinosaurs."
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Explore The Early Earth at TerraDaily.com
Climate Change And Mountain Building Led To Mammal DiversityAnn Arbor MI (SPX) May 10, 2010 Travel from the tropics to the poles, and you'll notice that the diversity of mammals declines with distance from the equator. Move from lowland to mountains, and you'll see diversity increase as the landscape becomes more varied. Ecologists have proposed various explanations for these well-known "biodiversity gradients," invoking ecological, evolutionary and historical processes. New find ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook