In Reply to: Website to check out - soft T-rex 'soft tissue' posted by :c} on March 26, 2005 at 14:35:41:
Most fossils preserve an organism's hard tissues, such as shell or bone. Finding preserved soft tissue is unheard of in a dinosaur-age specimen.
"To my knowledge, preservation to this extent——where you still have original flexibility and transparency——has not been noted in dinosaurs before, so we're pretty excited by the find," said Mary H. Schweitzer, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
The findings may provide new insights into dinosaur evolution, physiology, and biochemistry. They could also increase our understanding of extinct life and change how scientists think about the fossilization process.
"Finding these tissues in dinosaurs changes the way we think about fossilization, because our theories of how fossils are preserved don't allow for this [soft-tissue preservation]," Schweitzer said.
See full article at---
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0324_050324_trexsofttissue.html
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