Scientists find traces of red blood cells in a dinosaur fossil

Key Points:

• Researchers have found the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells in a 115 million-year-old dinosaur bone, using advanced microscopic imaging and chemical analyses to detect both cell-like structures and heme molecules within the fossil.
• The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed a partial hind limb of Aratasaurus museunacionali from Brazil's Romualdo Formation, where low-oxygen burial conditions likely helped preserve organic material.
• While the findings suggest that biological molecules can survive fossilization and open new avenues for studying dinosaur physiology, some experts remain skeptical about whether the structures are truly red blood cells and caution that more research is needed.
• The discovery does not imply that dinosaur DNA has been preserved, as heme and DNA are different molecules with distinct fossilization processes, but it may help scientists explore how oxygen was transported in extinct animals.
• Future research aims to investigate other fossils for similar preservation, potentially revealing new molecular and cellular information about prehistoric life and advancing understanding of ancient biological processes and evolution.