Age and legality of ivory revealed by carbon-14 dating can fight poachers
Monday, July 1, 2013 - 14:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
University of Utah researchers developed a new weapon to fight poachers who kill elephants, hippos, rhinos and other wildlife. By measuring radioactive carbon-14 deposited in tusks and teeth by open-air nuclear bomb tests, the method reveals the year an animal died, and thus whether the ivory was taken illegally.