Soft tissue find shows dinosaurs had birdlike lungs
Turns out we didn’t need Jurassic Park: The lungs and feathers of a bird that lived 120 million years ago had some of the same characteristics found in today’s birds, researchers reported yesterday (October 18) in PNAS… They examined a sample with scanning electron microscopy and found an extremely subdivided structure much like that enabling modern birds to take in enough oxygen to fuel flight. They also identified similarities between the specimen’s preserved feathers and its modern counterparts.Shawna Williams, “A fossil from the Cretaceous Period shows similarities to modern avian species.” at The Scientist Significance: Archaeorhynchus spathula is a basal member of the Ornithuromorpha, the lineage that includes neornithines. Although this is the fifth reported specimen, unlike the others it Read More ›