In Montana, paleontologists found a Tyrannosaurus rex thigh bone that was so big they had to break it apart to fit it in the helicopter. What did they find inside the bone? Unfossilized soft tissue, including blood vessels, bone cells, and perhaps even blood cells. After examining the tissue under a scanning electron microscope, the blood vessels appear to be virtually identical to modern ostrich blood vessels, giving further evidence to the hypothesis that birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs. The real question though is: When will Jurassic Park be opening up? Scientists say that though the soft tissue survived, they don’t believe that DNA can survive for 70 million years, though until this discovery, they didn’t think that soft tissue could survive for that long either. Season pass line begins on the right.
[Via: Digg]
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