A Real Jurassic Park?

(From the KSTP Website)
For more than a century, the study of dinosaurs has been limited to fossilized bones, but now, researchers have recovered 70-million-year-old soft tissue, including what may be blood vessels and cells from a Tyrannosaurus rex.

If scientists can isolate proteins from the material, they may be able to learn new details of how dinosaurs lived, said lead researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University.

It was recovered dinosaur DNA - the blueprint for life - that was featured in the fictional recreation of the ancient animals in the book and film "Jurassic Park."

But Schweitzer said there were no plans to clone dinosaurs in the lab.

The soft tissues were recovered from the thighbone of a T-Rex, known as MOR 1125, that was found in a sandstone formation in Montana.

The dinosaur was about 18-years-old when it died.

The bone was broken when it was removed from the site. Schweitzer and her colleagues then analyzed the material inside the bone.

Because evidence has accumulated in recent years that modern birds are descended from dinosaurs, Schweitzer said she chose to compare the dinosaur remains with those of an ostrich, the largest bird available.

Schweitzer said that after removing the minerals from the specimen, the remaining tissues were soft and transparent and could be manipulated with instruments.

The bone matrix was stretchy and flexible, she said.

Also, there were long structures like blood vessels. What appeared to be individual cells were visible.

She did not know if they were blood cells.

She likened the process to placing a chicken bone in vinegar - the minerals dissolve, leaving soft tissue.

The research was co-funded by North Carolina State University and the National Science Foundation.