Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Scientists Find Soft Tissue in T. rex Fossil

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Scientists Find Soft Tissue in T. rex Fossil: "Scientists Find Soft Tissue in T. rex Fossil
Science Image: dino bone
Image: SCIENCE

Dinosaur fossils are rare finds. But the 70-million-year-old bones of a Tyrannosauraus rex recovered from Montana are proving to be even more exceptional than the usual dino remains. Researchers report today in the journal Science that they have recovered soft tissue, including blood vessels, from the ancient creature.

Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University and her colleagues studied T. rex remains recovered in 2003 from a quarry in the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Preserve that date to roughly 70 million years ago. The specimen, known as MOR 1125 or B-rex, includes a 107-centimeter-long femur bone. Studying the bones in the lab, the team treated part of the femur with a solution designed to dissolve its mineral components. The substance left behind was a stretchy material that showed blood vessels, bone-building cells known as osteocytes and other organic features when observed under a microscope."