How did scientists find soft tissue in dinosaur fossils?
How did scientists find soft tissue in dinosaur fossils? Fossilization is a real-world Medusa — it turns living things to stone. Take petrified wood as an example. If a tree dies and is buried in sediment, the sediment protects the wood while mineral-laden groundwater seeps through it. The minerals gradually replace the wood, leaving a rocky facsimile behind. Dinosaur Image Gallery The same thing happens when more complex organisms, like animals, become fossils. Anything that’s stretchy, squishy, watery or rubbery decays while minerals reinforce the bones, turning them to stone. Even in the case of “mummified” fossil finds, the preserved skin and other organs aren’t soft anymore. In fossils like these, the body was protected from decay long enough for minerals to replace the soft tissues faster
How did scientists find soft tissue in dinosaur fossils? Fossilization is a real-world Medusa — it turns living things to stone. Take petrified wood as an example. If a tree dies and is buried in sediment, the sediment protects the wood while mineral-laden groundwater seeps through it. The minerals gradually replace the wood, leaving a rocky facsimile behind. Dinosaur Image Gallery The same thing happens when more complex organisms, like animals, become fossils. Anything that’s stretchy, squishy, watery or rubbery decays while minerals reinforce the bones, turning them to stone. Even in the case of “mummified” fossil finds, the preserved skin and other organs aren’t soft anymore. In fossils like these, the body was protected from decay long enough for minerals to replace the soft tissues faster
