Dinosaur fossil could contain cells

[KiwiCoromandel]

New fossil finds and a computer skull reconstruction bolster the case that an ancient creature that grabbed headlines in 2002 really is the earliest known ancestor of modern humans, researchers say.

read on...........

http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2005/04/07/59033.html

[Redneck4sure]

I have always wanted a T-Rex for a guard dog. I bet that would keep the salesmen and the liberals from knocking on your door. It would slow down the rednecks and maybe even thin them out a little.

[Potato]

This is really interesting... it'll be neat to see what happens with this in the future.

[slum_goddess]

has the all-amerikan, flag-sucking christian right called 'bullshit' on this yet?

[DudeAsInCool]

has the all-amerikan, flag-sucking christian right called 'bullshit' on this yet?

Nah - they're dinasaurs without any brain cells

[KiwiCoromandel]

Soft Tissue Found In T-Rex Bone

27/03/2005 05:47 PM - Reuters

A 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dug out of a hunk of sandstone has yielded soft tissue, including blood vessels and perhaps even whole cells, US researchers reported.

Paleontologists forced to break the creature's massive thighbone to get it on a helicopter found not a solid piece of fossilized bone, but instead something looking a bit less like a rock.

When they got it into a lab and chemically removed the hard minerals, they found what looked like blood vessels, bone cells and perhaps even blood cells.

"They are transparent, they are flexible," said Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University and Montana State University, who conducted the study.

She said the vessels were flexible and in some cases their contents could be squeezed out.

"The microstructures that look like cells are preserved in every way," added Schweitzer, whose findings were published in the journal Science.

"Preservation of this extent, where you still have this flexibility and transparency, has never been seen in a dinosaur before." Feathers, hair and fossilized egg contents yes, but not truly soft tissue.

Studying the soft tissues may help answer many questions about dinosaurs. Were they cold-blooded like reptiles, warm-blooded like mammals, or somewhere in-between? How are they related to living animals?

Read more........

http://xtramsn.co.nz/technology/0,,7005-4232994,00.html

[Cerebral_Assassin]

Leave it be............I have no desire to live in Jurassic Park.

[slum_goddess]

At some 6 million to 7 million years old, the fossils came from around the time of a major split in the evolutionary tree, with one branch leading to humans and the other branch leading to chimps.

The researchers argued that the creature, which they dubbed Sahelanthropus tchadensis, belongs on the human branch and thus is the oldest known hominid. Others disagreed.

In any case, the skull provided a puzzling combination of human and chimp traits and at that time raised what one expert called "a wheelbarrow full of questions" about evolution,

whoa, this smells like it could be a fact (shhhhhh, don't tell the creationists)

[KiwiCoromandel]

for some reason i`ve posted this upsidedown...the top post is meant to be at the bottom of the order...wha` happen? :wha':

[slum_goddess]

WTF are you talking about, dude? it makes sense to me....everyone else's mileage prolly varies

ps, march something comes after today? you can mess w/time? who knew?

[KiwiCoromandel]

it`s ok..i`m alright now....

[slum_goddess]

please mess w/time over in my direction, ok?

[Shawn]

BK mod health and drug benefits don't cover this guys. :D