Whatever You Do, Don’t Let Them See This
Scientists are pretty well certain the the huge, carnivorous dinosaur, tyrannosaurus rex has a living relative in today's world. Under no circumstances should you let the relatives see any news about this. The results could be dreadful. So do the world a favor and do not tell the chickens.
Scientists have at last uncovered the closest living relative of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, the most feared and famous of all the dinosaurs. For the first time, researchers have managed to sequence proteins from the long-extinct creature, leading them to the discovery that many of the molecules show a remarkable similarity to those of the humble chicken.
The research provides the first molecular evidence for the notion that birds are the modern-day descendants of dinosaurs, as well as overturning the long-held palaeontological assumption that delicate organic molecules such as DNA and proteins are completely destroyed during the process of fossilisation over hundreds of thousands of years. It also hints at the tantalising prospect that scientists may one day be able to emulate Jurassic Park by cloning a dinosaur.
Mary Schweitzer, a palaeontologist at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, led a team of researchers in analysing the 68m-year-old leg bone of a T-rex, recovered in 2003 in Montana. To her surprise, she found that it still contained a matrix of collagen fibres, a protein that gives bone its structure and flexibility. Working with colleagues at Harvard University Medical Centre and with the help of equipment normally used to identify and sequence tiny amounts of protein in human cancers, Prof Schweitzer managed to extract and sequence seven different T-rex proteins.
Somehow, the thought of the huge, scary dinosaur that is always depicted in the movies making clucking noises instead of a roar is rather amusing. Imagine Jurassic Park's complete change in tone if the tyrannosaurus had been going "buck-gawk" while chasing the car. Actually, we here at Blue Crab Boulevard are hopeful that this turns out to be a prank. The chickens may have slipped something into the sample, after all.
By BubbaB, Friday, 13 April , 2007 @ 2:16 pm
So, you think the scientists may end up with egg on their faces?