Advanced Light Source finds big surprise in Paleozoic scorpion fossil
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 07:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Its not quite Jurassic Park, but who wants Paleozoic scorpions scurrying around anyway? Scientists used a powerful microscope at the U.S. Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to detect remnants of protein and chitin in the exoskeleton of a 417-million-year-old fossil of an extinct mega-scorpion, a discovery that is several hundred million years older than previously thought possible.