Soft Tissue Analysis in Paleontology

• Scientists at the Field Museum are studying the fossils of Sue the T-Rex to determine if she was warm-blooded.
• They use destructive analysis techniques like slicing and dissolving in acid to study the fossils.
• By examining the growth rate and color of fossils, they can determine if Sue had a high metabolic rate.
• Soft tissues like blood vessels and proteins can also be extracted from fossils to study their chemical composition.
• Paleontologists are surprised that soft tissues like skin and blood vessels can be preserved in fossils.
• The study of soft tissues requires a new method of analysis and is still being developed.
• The discovery of soft tissues in fossils can provide a more complete picture of the diversity of life on Earth.
• Scientists are interested in studying soft tissues to determine how dinosaurs evolved into modern birds.
• The study of soft tissues in fossils is a relatively new field, only developing in the last 30 years.
• The preservation of soft tissues in fossils is still not well understood and requires further study.
• Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique used for characterizing organic specimens.
• It uses a green light of 532 nanometers to excite different materials in the sample.
• The chemical bonds in the sample vibrate in response to their chemical environment, producing specific wiggles that are detected as a spectrum.
• Different wiggles at different wave numbers evidence different kinds of molecular bond vibration and chemical compounds present in the sample.
• Different compounds tell us different things about the dinosaur being studied, such as their metabolic rate.
• The amount of metabolic stress markers in soft tissues can signal whether the dinosaur was warm-blooded or cold-blooded.
• The high metabolism of birds is not an avian innovation, but rather a trait shared by most dinosaurs.
• Raman spectroscopy has upended what was once common knowledge about dinosaur physiology and evolution.
• The study was conducted by Yasmina and her team at the Field Museum.
• Abbey, a young paleontologist, has been fascinated by the Field Museum since childhood.

Explore how scientists use destructive and non-destructive analysis techniques to study soft tissues in fossils, such as blood vessels and proteins, to understand the physiology and evolution of dinosaurs like Sue the T-Rex. Discover how Raman spectroscopy plays a crucial role in characterizing organic specimens and determining metabolic rates.