Australian Museum’s Post

Have you ever wondered why collagen, the protein that holds our bodies together, can survive for millions of years in dinosaur fossils? Turns out, it all comes down to an ingenious atomic-level interaction that makes collagen virtually indestructible! Scientists at MIT discovered that collagen's longevity is due to a special trick that prevents water molecules from breaking down its peptide bonds. These bonds connect the building blocks of collagen, forming a sturdy triple-helix structure. By sharing electrons between neighboring bonds, collagen creates a barrier that water can't penetrate, ensuring its incredible durability over unimaginable timescales. It's like an impenetrable fortress built at the atomic level! No wonder collagen has been found in fossils dating back a staggering 195 million years – it's nature's ultimate survivor. #Science #Collagen #MITResearch

We've long known that ferns were the first to establish on many landscapes following the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and that they were abundant and widespread for centuries or more. Ferns are also some of the first species to recolonize after smaller upheavals like the Mt. Saint Helens eruption. For decades, it's been thought that this was due to their ability to withstand harsh conditions or out-compete other plants. But what if ferns aren't just better at living through tough times, they're also paving the way for other plants to follow? I'm excited to share a new paper, led by my former postdoc Lauren Azevedo-Schmidt, PhD and based on a NASA-funded collaboration with Emily Sessa, Jarmila Pittermann, Ellen Currano, and Regan Dunn. In our new conceptual framework, we suggest that ferns may not just be better competitors, or so-called "disaster taxa," but may play an important role in facilitating ecological recovery. Read our open-access paper, out in BioScience today: https://lnkd.in/eRikBa4u

This is such an interesting, important project and a terrific example of the potential that museums and material culture studies have to provide a more comprehensive view of our nation's history. #History #IndigenousStudies #AmericanStudies

The "gravest objection" to his theory, Darwin noted, was the lack at the time of fossils of transitional forms. The 1861 discovery in Bavaria of Archaeopteryx, combining reptile-like and bird-like features, provided support for Darwin's theory. #darwin #fossils https://lnkd.in/g-agz3u4

🦖📊 Did you know that the same stats can tell wildly different stories? Dive into the fascinating world of data visualization in this Scientific American article, featuring innovative work by #AutodeskResearch. Learn how statistical figures can be manipulated to form different shapes, including a dinosaur, all while maintaining the same summary statistics. It's not just about numbers, it's about the stories they tell: https://bit.ly/3wizjQa #DataSaurus #AnscombesQuartet

Beth Shapiro absolutely crushing it at Fortune! 5 key reasons to watch the full video: 1. What is de-extinction? 2. When are dinosaurs coming back? 3. How do you de-extinct a mammoth? 4. How can this tech benefit other industries? 5. How are we using this tech to save species in the brink of extinction today? #conservation #deextinction #colossal

Volcanoes on Mars : A hint to sustain life? Next on our series: GeoExplorer, we present to you how volcanic activity on Mars, shockingly aligned with Earth's dinosaur era, has interesting implications for the quest to find evidence of life on the planet. Read on to understand the significance of this finding! Stay tuned every Wednesday as we present wild, interesting facts that take you through a journey on anything and everything geoscience. #GeoExplorer #EAGE #studentchapter #geoscience

Cracking the code of pterosaur flight: Soaring vs. flapping: New research reveals diverse flight styles of pterosaurs, using 3D fossils and CT scans to explore soaring and flapping behaviors. #EarthDotCom #EarthSnap #Earth

Giganotosaurus was the largest carcharodontosaurid to walk the earth. What evolutionary processes created this formidable creature? This article, which I published, answers these questions and explores the life and extinction of Giganotosaurus. https://lnkd.in/e5sHe8CP

Not the usual post, but hoping this community can help un-puzzle this fossil we found in our backyard today. 💡 This stone is about the size of my palm, with a fossil that could be a part of an organism's: - wing or fin - rib cage - shell ? and it *appears* (blue arrow) that part of the rock may have a divet from constant water drippings that wore it down to the hollow of a...bone (?). Beholding the remains of a creature that may be *millions* of years old is....remarkably humbling. We mostly think of human presence on Earth in 'millennia', and this organism is possibly our history times another millennium. What is the story behind this shape melted into stone.... Pondering: What will be the fossils that *we* leave behind...? What would you *want* the story to be? Will our #sustainability ambitions, powered by technology #innovation, change the narrative from the trajectory we are on today? In the meantime, If anyone can refer a paleontologist, or knows of an AI app to feed the image, please do comment or DM so we can figure out this unexpected enigma 😎.