Discovering Dino Tissue with Mary Schweitzer

Down the Wormhole

Episode 119

Today, we are joined by paleontologist, Dr. Mary Schweitzer. She is professor in the department of biological sciences at North Carolina State University. She is also a research curator for paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Her research interests include molecular paleontology, specifically the preservation and detection of original molecular fragments in well preserved fossil specimens. In 2005 she and her team shook the paleontology community when they reported finding soft tissue preserved in a 68-million-year-old T-Rex femur. Since that initial find, her team has unearthed mounting evidence that soft tissues, such as blood vessels, collagen and other proteins, can survive more than 66 million years of degradation. Fun fact, on one of her fossil hunts she spent three days in the field walking around on a broken leg because she didn’t want to miss out on anything.

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produced by Zack Jackson
music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis