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Caltech-led Team First to Directly Measure Body Temperatures of Extinct Vertebrates


May 24, 2010

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Questions about when, why, and how vertebrates stopped relying on external factors to regulate their body temperatures and began heating themselves internally have long intrigued scientists. Now, a team led by researchers at Caltech has taken a critical step toward providing some answers. They have developed the first method for the direct measurement of the body temperatures of large extinct vertebrates--through the analysis of rare isotopes in the animals' bones, teeth and eggshells.Full Story

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California Institute of Technology

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