What Scientists Found in This 3-Million-Year-Old Bone Left Them Speechless
Indian Defence Review••science
Key Points:
- Scientists have, for the first time, recovered metabolic molecules from fossilized bones up to three million years old, providing new insights into the diets, health, and environments of prehistoric animals.
- The international study, led by Timothy Bromage and published in Nature, applied mass spectrometry to fossils from East and Southern Africa, detecting thousands of metabolites comparable to those in modern animals.
- Fossil bones preserve biochemistry because their porous microenvironments can lock in chemical residues, allowing researchers to identify amino acids, vitamins, hormones, and even signs of disease, such as a 1.8-million-year-old parasite infection in a ground squirrel.
- Analysis of plant metabolites in fossils also revealed information about ancient climates and habitats, confirming that regions like Old
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-22400154171-19eb2573d96647f8894478942b5721be.jpg)
