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75-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Soft Tissue Suggests Ancient Organic Preservation May Be Common

Researchers have found what appear to be collagen fibers and blood cells in unremarkable-looking fossils

Scanning electron micoscrope analysis revealed apparent collagen fibers in 75-million-year-old dinosaur bone. 

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Image: Sergio Bertazzo

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


During the process of fossilization, all organic compounds--such as those that make up cells and tissues—disappear, leaving behind remains composed strictly of mineral. That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway. But discoveries made over the past two decades have steadily chipped away at this tenet of paleontology, revealing what appear to be blood cells, bone cells and other organic materials in a handful of exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur fossils. Now new findings suggest that such organic preservation may actually be relatively common. Sergio Bertazzo of University College London and his colleagues analyzed eight dinosaur specimens that did not show any external signs of being particularly well preserved, and found apparent blood cells and collagen fibers in six of them. The remains are some 75 million years old. The researchers describe their findings in a report published in the June 9 Nature Communications. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

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Blood from Stone: How Fossils Can Preserve Soft Tissue


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Molecular Analysis Supports Controversial Claim for Dinosaur Cells

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor at Scientific American focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for more than 25 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home, to the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, to the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and on a "Big Day" race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Kate is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow Wong on X (formerly Twitter) @katewong

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