Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer, assistant professor at North Carolina State University, will present her latest findings on soft tissues preserved in dinosaurs during a Brigham Young University Geology Department seminar Thursday, Nov. 17, at 11 a.m. in C-295 Eyring Science Center.
Admission is free and the public is welcome.
The tissues, found in the broken bones of a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus from Montana, include collagen and blood vessels as well as several types of cells.
"Preservation of this specimen is spectacular, and includes broad networks of vessels, probably representing capillaries, that are not only similar to those of modern birds, but are flexible and elastic," according to Schweitzer, who will present new finds showing that soft tissue preservation is widespread, at least in Cretaceous dinosaurs.
This discovery was originally presented in the March 25 issue of Science magazine.
For more information, contact Brooks B. Britt, Department of Geology, (801) 422-7316.
