Ancient Fossilized Bone Marrow Found

anthemaniac writes "Last year scientists recovered soft tissue from a T. rex. Now LiveScience is reporting that researchers have found fossilized bone marrow, the first discovery this this type of soft tissue, in frog and salamander fossils dating back 10 million years. Since the bone marrow was discovered 'in an environment vastly different form the one in which the T. rex soft tissue was found,' scientists now hope they'll find soft tissue in other environments and maybe from ancient mammals."

Missing links

[karvind]

I wonder if they can sequence the protein segments too (I hope there are some) and we should be able to find more of the links with birds. And most importantly can they isolate DNAs as well ? It has been a while (yeah long time).

Re:Them Park

[Phillup]

You should patent that idea... I'm almost sure it would fly in the U.S.

Unfortunately...

Re:Missing links

[jd]

mtDNA is shorter and usually more stable than nucleic DNA, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of finding some. They don't exactly need the whole molecule, just enough to be able to determine where in the mtDNA strand the segment belongs -and- get a good idea of the extent of the changes.

Even if they can just get proteins, provided it's a random sample and statistically significant, they may be able to deduce things about the nucleic DNA. They'd know the proportions of the proteins in dinosaurs, the proportions in likely candidates for nearest living relatives now, and the DNA coding for those proteins in those living relatives. From that, they could deduce, using reverse-engineering techniques, what changes would have been needed to go from the ratios of the past to the ratios of the present.

Novel Idea?

[fizzyabbo]

Maybe now, I can write the great american novel. Mine's about a theme park island where scientists have brought pre-historic dinosaurs back to life using genetic engineering, but things go horribly wrong. I call it, "Johnny and the Clonasaurus."

Re:Novel Idea?

[timster]

Maybe you can write in some kind of mathemetician character that spews pop nonsense about some new field of mathematical research. Then he can explain that he wears black clothes in heat because of "black body radiation".

Once you're done with that you can write books about how scientists are all idiots.

Re:Novel Idea?

[lartful_dodger]

Gotta love them pre-historic dinosaurs!

BTW, if you get the novel up, I hear there're studios clamouring for the film rights to books like that...

Re:Novel Idea?

[OneoFamillion]

Sorry, but your idea sucks. I don't think anyone of us would go see it in a movie theatre, even if you threw in some desperate reference about chicks and UNIX.

Re:Novel Idea?

[slipnslidemaster]

It's a UNIX system! I know this!

Re:Novel Idea?

[chrish]

Dang, no mod points left; c'mon, people, this is a Simpsons reference!

Don't!

[Eightyford]

Just don't mix dino DNA with that of a frog's! Apparently they will have man-babies, because nature always finds a way!

Cool...

[Savage-Rabbit]

... scientists now hope they'll find soft tissue in other environments and maybe from ancient mammals."

Like archaic humans? Especially Neanderthals. I for one am looking forward to observing the ensuing shitstorm^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H dispassionate, civilized debate between members of the scientific community.

there won't be any...

[zogger]

..no controversy at all. The NFL and NHL will take care of any so called "debate" over the new cloned neanderthals being "legit humans" or not...

How young can a fossil be?

[Xzzy]

Ancient Fossils?

There's some other kind of fossil?

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[Pelops]

Yup, there are many other kinds, the ones you find in bioethics comity, the ones you find in retirement houses, and so on.... So many fossils, so little time to find them all.

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[bcat24]

Not to mention the ones people wear on their wrists. :)

It depends...

[StikyPad]

on whether or not you consider 10,000 years [clearlyexplained.com] to be ancient.

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[pookemon]

Young fossils? [answersingenesis.org] (120 years)

Living fossils [wikipedia.org]

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[samkass]

The ones God put in the Earth a few thousand years ago as a practical joke on those Copernican, old-Earth atheists.

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[SpaghettiPattern]

>Ancient Fossils?

>>There's some other kind of fossil?

Can't call my mother in law "ancient".

Re:How young can a fossil be? ... a few months :)

[HarmlessScenery]

http://www.mothershiptonscave.com/the_petrifying_w ell.htm [mothershiptonscave.com]

If you read the article, teddy bears are 'fossilised' in a few months :)

Re:How young can a fossil be?

[stonecypher]

Never seen a George Burns or a Vincent Price movie?

While looking for more information,

[StikyPad]

I stumbled on a report that we're "returning" 42 cartons of dinosaur eggs to China. [google.com]

Is that propoganda? I can't find any other reference besides those two questionable sources. Also, who thinks these things up?

Re: While looking for more information,

[Black Parrot]

> I stumbled on a report that we're "returning" 42 cartons of dinosaur eggs to China. Is that propoganda?

It's a subtext metaphor: we are giving them "42" - the secret of Life, the Universe, and Everything - which is symbolic of the continual flow of our technology and military secrets to them.

Now you try it: what would the subtext be if the report had said 69 cartons of dinosaur eggs?

Re: While looking for more information,

[SCSI-Wan]

I detect an infinite improbability field forming in this thread.

Re:While looking for more information,

[Conanymous Award]

Haven't heard those news, but it's probably true. China is a dinosaur treasure trove, and illegal fossil trade is a big biz here. The Chinese goverment is cracking hard on the smugglers, and if smuggled Chinese fossils are found abroad, they are usually returned to China (fossils are by default the property of the country they are found in). And in case you didn't know, dinosaur eggs are quite common as fossils. Of course they're rock now, no actual soft tissues there.

Re:While looking for more information,

[StikyPad]

I understand why they'd be returned, and rightly so, but it's strange that there are no corroborating reports.

Mmmm...T-Rex Bone Marrow

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

That'd be nice roasted and served with parsley. Very nutritious.

DNA destruction

[BilZ0r]

Yeah, I don't think they'll be much chance of getting DNA out of these samples, mitochondrial or otherwise. Still, from the morphology, some things might be able to be deduced. Definately growth rates, posture, relation to other reptiles.

Here is an Idea

[INeededALogin]

Someone invest some money in making a theme park!

It could be great. We could use frogs to fill in the gaps in the DNA and then just use cloning to make dinosaur attractions. I say we make them all women to make sure that we can control the population. Oh and strict export control so nothing crazy happens like a T-Rex lose in San Diego or something like that.

Re:Here is an Idea

[x2A]

"I say we make them all women to make sure that we can control the population"

Make them all female, or make them all women? Cuz if you're looking for a theme park where you can find a load of women in cages, well err...

forget it, you can google for it yourself!

Any palentologists in the house?

[Black Parrot]

All we ever seem to see about the soft tissue claim is references back to the original press release. What claims have been published in the peer reviewed literature, and how have those claims been received?

As I understand it, what actually happened is that there was some "stuff" in the holes where blood vessels formerly flowed through the leg bones, and it came out when a solvent was applied. Then came the press release; I haven't seen any stories about the eventual analysis of the material, and the lengthening silence makes me wonder whether the press release was a jumped conclusion.

Re: Any palentologists in the house?

[Black Parrot]

Pale-o-ntologists are welcome to answer as well...

Re:Any palentologists in the house?

[johane]

Here is a reference to a piece in Science:

Schweitzer MH, Wittmeyer JL, Horner JR, Toporski JB. 2005. Soft Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex. Science 307: 1952-1955.

Jurassic Park

[DavidV]

..only a few more years.

Yummy?

[lbmouse]

"If we can isolate certain proteins, then perhaps we can address the issue of the physiology of the dinosaur," Schweitzer said.

Maybe it's a good thing I'm not on their team. It'd be awfully tempting to see what a T.Rex tastes like. Guess we watched too many Flintstones cartoons as kids. Never could find a Brontosaurus burger.

Re:Yummy?

[Drachemorder]

It tastes just like chicken.

Re:Yummy?

[cr0sh]

Actually, it probably tastes like ostrich, which tastes nothing like chicken (actually, it tastes like beef - it is a red meat, after all)...