. | . |
Study discovers why fossilized hairs are so rare to find by Amy Wallace Washington (UPI) Sep 8, 2017 Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin found that fossilized hair is five times rarer than feathers and may be due to types of the protein keratin. The study, published Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that hair probably evolved much earlier than current fossil samples indicate. "This pattern of where and when we do find fossilized feathers and hairs can be used to inform where we look for future fossil discoveries," Chad Eliason, a researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History who conducted the research while a postdoctoral fellow at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, said in a press release. Researchers assembled the largest known database of fossilized body coverings, or integument, from land-dwelling vertebrates known as tetrapods, collected from lagerstatte and found that, unlike feathers, fossilized hairs are extremely rare. "Mammal hair has been around for more than 160 million years yet over that time we have very few records," Eliason said. Researchers theorize that the rarity of finding fossilized hair may be explained by hair and feathers containing different types of keratin, which can impact the likelihood of fossilization. The researches also used gap analysis in the study, finding that feathers evolved very close to the earliest examples of fossils about 165 million years ago, and that hairs found on pterosaurs evolved significantly earlier than that. Researchers found that soft tissue preservation was most common when ancient sea levels were high.
Sendai, Japan (SPX) Sep 04, 2017 Researchers in Japan and China believe they have found new molecular fossils of archaea using a method of analysis commonly used in forensic science. According to a system designed by microbiologist Carl Woese, there are three domains of life on Earth - Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota. To date, the distribution of archaea remains unclear especially for geologic periods dating back more tha ... read more Related Links Explore The Early Earth at TerraDaily.com
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |