Dinosaur blood found preserved in 115-million-year-old fossils
International team led by Curtin University finds molecular evidence of molecules derived from hemoglobin in ancient theropod
An international team of scientists led by Curtin University has discovered fossilized red blood cells and chemical traces of heme, a component of haemoglobin, inside the 115-million-year-old bones of a meat-eating dinosaur from northeastern Brazil, shattering previous assumptions about how long biological molecules can survive. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, include the first definitive chemical confirmation of molecules derived from haemoglobin inside fossilized dinosaur red blood cells.