Ancient muscle tissue extracted from 18 million year old fossil

November 5, 2009
Ancient muscle tissue extracted from 18 million year old fossil

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have extracted organically preserved muscle tissue from an 18 million years old salamander fossil. The discovery by researchers from University College Dublin, the UK and Spain, reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that soft tissue can be preserved under a broader set of fossil conditions than previously known.

The scientists claim that their discovery is unequivocal evidence that high-fidelity organic preservation of extremely decay prone is more common in the record - the only physical record of the history of life on earth.

Previous examples of soft tissues fossilised in this way have been limited to samples extracted from amber or inside bone - a very rare set of circumstances. This latest discovery simply occurs inside the body of the salamander tucked in beside the spine.

“We came across the muscle tissue during our analysis of several hundred fossil samples taken from an ancient lake bed in Southern Spain. It was immediately identifiable by the sinewy texture visible under the microscope,” says Dr Patrick Orr from the UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin.

“After first sighting the material, we completed a series of highly detailed analyses to limit the possibility that it was simply an of preservation or something unrelated to the biology of the animal.” says UCD geologist, Dr Maria McNamara, the lead author of the report.

”We noticed that there had been very little degradation since it was originally fossilised about 18 million years ago, making it the highest quality soft tissue preservation ever documented in the .”

According to the University College Dublin geologists, the is organically preserved in three dimensions, with circulatory vessels infilled with blood.

Using the same sampling methods and high resolution imaging that led to this find, scientists will now begin to investigate existing fossils in national museums and elsewhere across the world, for similar types of soft tissue preservation.

Although examples of soft tissue preservation are likely to remain incredibly rare, further discoveries will help scientists paint a better picture of life on earth since the beginning of evolutionary time.

Provided by University College Dublin

4.7 /5 (10 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

kevinrtrs
Nov 13, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Just a few questions:
1. What controls were applied to ensure that there wasn't any possibility of contamination?
2. Since they seem to be quite sure it's original soft tissue, how come it's still intact after 18 million years? Surely soft tissue should have decayed away by now. What were the methods of preservation and can this be shown to be repeatable?
3. If the methods of preservation does not hold up to light, would the researchers be willing to at least consider the possibility that the specimen is NOT 18 million years old?
Thanks,
Kev.
Rank 4.7 /5 (10 votes)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • a single mRNA strand is attached to sevaral ribosomes?
    created14 hours ago
  • Oestrogen and FSH
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • Linear Blood Vessel Network Examples in Animals or Plants
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • Neuroscientists: What is a Principal Cell Layer?
    createdFeb 06, 2012
  • How does slime mould grow?
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Why are mosquitoes and bedbugs successful?
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Biology

More news stories

Statistical model unlocks barriers to use of fingerprint evidence in court

Potentially key fingerprint evidence is currently not being considered due to shortcomings in the way it is reported, according to a report published today in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and th ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created 4 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Tougher laws to smash green smoke screens

Law reform and tougher legal sanctions to stop greenwashing are critical, according to a leading intellectual property expert from The Australian National University.

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created 6 hours ago | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Splat! Geek-in-chief Obama tests marshmallow gun

US President Barack Obama tested a new prototype Tuesday for his commander-in-chief's arsenal -- a high-powered marshmallow gun that sent a tasty missile screaming through the White House.

Other Sciences / Other

created 23 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 3

People with easy to pronounce names win friends and favour

(PhysOrg.com) -- Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name is more likely to win you friends and favour in the workplace, a study by Dr Simon Laham at the University of Melbourne and Dr Adam Alter at New York University Stern ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created 9 hours ago | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Study: consumers keep up -- or down -- with the joneses during recession

(PhysOrg.com) -- Consumers relatively unaffected by economic downturns spend less on luxury items during recessions because social standards shift along with the cycles of the economy, according to a study led by a Duke University ...

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created 10 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Short fasting cycles work as well as chemotherapy in mice

Man may not live by bread alone, but cancer in animals appears less resilient, judging by a study that found chemotherapy drugs work better when combined with cycles of short, severe fasting.

Gene therapy for inherited blindness succeeds in patients' other eye

Gene therapy for congenital blindness has taken another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. After receiving the same treatment in their ...

Physicists build highly efficient 'no-waste' laser

A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that ...

Study shows how DNA finds its match

It's been more than 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA is a double helix of two strands that complement each other. But how does a short piece of DNA find its match, out of the millions ...

Transparent iron? For the first time, an experiment shows that atomic nuclei can become transparent

At the high-brilliance synchrotron light source PETRA III, a team of DESY scientists headed by Dr. Ralf Röhlsberger has succeeded in making atomic nuclei transparent with the help of X-ray light. At the ...

'Explorers,' who embrace the uncertainty of choices, use specific part of cortex

Life shrouds most choices in mystery. Some people inch toward a comfortable enough spot and stick close to that rewarding status quo. Out to dinner, they order the usual. Others consider their options systematically ...