News From the Field

Pigment or bacteria? Researchers reexamine the idea of 'color' in fossil feathers


March 5, 2014

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Paleontologists studying fossilized feathers have proposed that the shapes of certain microscopic structures inside the feathers can tell us the color of ancient birds. But new research at North Carolina State University demonstrates that it is not yet possible to tell if these structures--thought to be melanosomes--are what they seem, or if they are merely the remnants of ancient bacteria.Full Story

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North Carolina State University

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