Saturday Science: Jurassic Park Redux?

A report on some surprising findings in paleontology:

The controversial discovery of 68 million-year-old soft tissue from the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex finally has a physical explanation. According to newly published research, iron in the dinosaur's body preserved the tissue before it could decay.

The research, headed by Mary Schweitzer, a molecular paleontologist at North Carolina State University, explains how proteins — and possibly even DNA — can survive for millennia. Schweitzer and her colleagues first raised this question in 2005, when they found the seemingly impossible: soft tissue preserved inside the leg of an adolescent T. rex unearthed in Montana.

"What we found was unusual, because it was still soft and still transparent and still flexible," Schweitzer told LiveScience.

And how is this possible? Iron.

Iron is an element present in abundance in the body, particularly in the blood, where it is part of the protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Iron is also highly reactive with other molecules, so the body keeps it locked up tight, bound to molecules that prevent it from wreaking havoc on the tissues.

After death, though, iron is let free from its cage. It forms minuscule iron nanoparticles and also generates free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules thought to be involved in aging.

"The free radicals cause proteins and cell membranes to tie in knots," Schweitzer said. "They basically act like formaldehyde."

Finding soft tissue always raises the possibility of surviving DNA, and DNA means the possibility of recreating a living organism. But before you head to your bunker to avoid an onslaught of T. rex:

Importantly, Schweitzer and her colleagues have figured out how to remove the iron from their samples, which enables them to analyze the original proteins. They've even seen chemical reactions consistent with the presence of DNA, though Schweitzer is quick to note that she and her colleagues haven't proven that DNA is actually present. Even if there is DNA, researchers would have to show that it's dinosaur DNA rather than contamination.

So don't expect any living dinosaurs anytime soon.

Speaking of T. rex, Chicago's very own Sue.

Via TPM