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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Photo: Dinosaur Slime Sparks Debate Over Soft-Tissue Finds


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In 2005 scientists announced they had found soft tissue preserved in the 68-million-year-old bone of a T. Rex (above, an artist's rendering).

In July 2008 another research team reported that the "tissue" is actually slime coating the insides of the blood vessels.

Scientists in the latest study used an electron microscope, among other tools, to show where biofilms were peeling away (inset) from the bone's blood vessel walls.

Illustration by Doug Henderson/NGS; Photograph courtesy Thomas Kaye