When I was younger, I was completely, entirely, and utterly obsessed with the film Jurassic Park. I even stood in line to place an advance order on the VHS tape (and if that doesn’t date me, nothing will). Last week, the BBC warmed my heart with the following announcement:
“Secret ‘Dino Bugs’ Revealed”
Enormous X-Ray machines have given scientists a glimpse of the tiny creatures trapped inside opaque fossilized tree resin (amber). So far, 360 fossil animals have been identified from the 600 chunks of amber.
"...Tafforeau and colleague Malvina Lak [from the University of Rennes] have put kilos of opaque amber chunks in the way of this beam and have found a treasure trove of ancient organisms. From more than 600 blocks, they have identified nearly 360 fossil animals. Wasps, flies, ants - even spiders. There are also small fragments of plant material. All of it caught up in the sticky goo of some prehistoric tree and then locked away until modern science provided the key..."
Now it’s simply a matter of waiting for a creative scientist to check for prehistoric DNA samples and begin a dinosaur cloning process. I’m willing to stand in line for advanced copies of a miniature triceratops too.
-Karyn
1 comments:
Oh, Karyn, you have the best posts. :)
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