Paleontologists Find 75 million-year-old Dinosaur DNA And Proteins In Fossil

In Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel, scientists extracted blood-sucking insects from amber, removed the dinosaur blood from their stomach, and separated the DNA. Then they improved the DNA using computers and injected it into alligator eggs, which then later hatched into baby dinosaurs.

This science fiction novel is becoming all too real, as Paleontologists have recently announced the discovery of dinosaur DNA preserved inside a 75 million-year-old dinosaur fossil. In addition to the DNA, the team claims they found evidence of proteins, chromosomes, and cartilage cells, which means these can survive much longer than previously thought.

The discovery was made by researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who published their research in the journal National Science Review. The team analyzed the skull fragments of Hypacrosaurus, a duck-billed herbivore from the Cretaceous period, and found evidence of remarkably well-preserved cartilage cells. One of them contained structures that resembled chromosomes, while two of them were still linked in a way that looked like the final stages of cell division. These particular specimens the researchers analyzed were “nestlings,” meaning they were not old enough to leave their nest when they died. Read the free article.