Using Synchrotron X-rays To Tease The Hidden Secrets Of Dinosaurs And Old Documents

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Science Daily

150 million years ago, an evolutionarily hybrid creature, a dinosaur on its way to becoming a bird, died in what is now Germany, and become fossilized in limestone.

About 150 years ago, the fossil of this "dinobird" was discovered and celebrated as proof of Charles Darwin's new theory of evolution.

Now fast word to a few weeks ago: The famous fossil, the Thermopolis specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica, made its way by truck from the Wyoming Dinosaur Center to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource in California, where it was meticulously scanned by one of the world's most powerful X-ray machines, a building-sized device created for physics research.

By looking for traces of specific elements left in the slab of limestone as the bird decomposed, the researchers hope to uncover heretofore-unseen details of the soft tissue that once surrounded the well-preserved bones.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090215151858.htm

[aquart]

1. Ooooh, soft tissue.

I love seeing soft tissue.

[bananas]

2. Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Squeeze_Me_%28But_Please_Don%27t_Tease_Me%29