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March 25, 2005

After 70 million years, this T. rex soft tissue is still flexible and resilient.

Fragments of soft tissue extracted from the marrow cavity of a T. rex femur, after the surrounding bone mineral has been dissolved away. (A) The demineralized fragment is flexible and resilient and, when stretched (arrow), returns to its original shape. (B) Demineralized bone in (A) after air drying. The overall structural and functional characteristics remain after dehydration. (C) Regions of demineralized bone show fibrous material (arrows). Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

Credit: From Schweitzer et al., Science 307:1952-1955 (2005). Reprinted with permission from AAAS.


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