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US-SCIENCE-XRAY-FOSSIL
TO GO WITH AFP STORY US-SCIENCE-PALEONTOLOGY-DINOSAURS
Scientists reported June 30, 2011 that they have taken a big step in determining what the first birds looked like more than 100 million years ago, when their relatives, the dinosaurs, still ruled the Earth. This image courtesy of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, shows a synchrotron rapid scanning x-ray fluorescence image of the calcium distribution in a fossil specimen of Confuciusornis sanctus, an ~120 million year old avian species, the oldest documented to display a fully derived beak. Calcium is high in the bones as shown by the bright white areas, but calcium is also high in the areas corresponding to residue of downy feathers in the neck region. This is interpreted to be due to the distribution of calcium being controlled by eumelanin chelates in the neck feathers, indicating that these soft tissues were originally darkly pigmented. AFP PHOTO/SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource/GREGORY STEWART/HANDOUT/RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS/NO SALES
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Detalii fotografie |
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Menlo Park, California, UNITED STATES |
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AFP / Mediafax Foto |
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| Fotograf: |
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GREGORY STEWART |
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30 Iunie 2011 |
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1156 x 1064 (907.16 KB) |
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