Traviscounty Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_...ci_fossil_brain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoRon Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I wonder if it an actual fossilized brain or a common endocast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I wonder if it an actual fossilized brain or a common endocast? Not enough info to hazard a guess. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I find it a little hard to believe, need more study. I would believe a cast easier but time will tell, maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I assume an endocast. The conditions required to fossilize a brain are exceptionally rare... it is not impossible just highly improbable like the two headed reptile fossil. I believe peer reviewing will sort this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Found some more info on this, with a video! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...rain-found.html Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Very interesting. I still want to know about its form of preservation; keep your eyes peeled! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Very interesting. I still want to know about its form of preservation; keep your eyes peeled! I've been looking. I had a break during school and I searched for a number of hours... Nothing yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 The press release: Public release date: 2-Mar-2009 Scientists discover at the European Synchrotron the first fossil brain A 300-million-year-old brain of a relative of sharks and ratfish has been revealed by French and American scientists using synchrotron holotomography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). It is the first time that the soft tissue of such an old fossil brain has ever been found. The results are published in PNAS this week. As in many scientific discoveries, it all happened by chance. The team from the National Natural History Museum in Paris (MNHN in French), the ESRF and the American Museum of Natural History in New York was using the synchrotron to study one of the few skulls of an iniopterygian fish that has maintained its three dimensions (most of them are squashed). Inopterygians are an extinct relative of sharks and ratfish, and used to live on the shallow and muddy marine ground. They were not bigger than 50 centimeters. The scientists used the technique of absorption microtomography to study different samples. One sample, stemming from Kansas (US), revealed a peculiar structure: it was denser than the surrounding matrix that fills the braincase, and which is made of crystalline calcite. In order to elucidate its structure in detail, they decided to use a second technique, X-ray holotomography. Surprisingly, the results showed a symmetrical and elongated object placed in the same position as a brain would have been. The 3D reconstruction showed different parts of the brain, such as the cerebellum, spinal cords or optic lobes and tracts, among others. The only part the researchers couldn't spot was the forebrain, perhaps too thin to become mineralized. Further analysis of the fossil indicated that the area where the brain-like structure reaches the surface of the sample reveals a high concentration of calcium phosphate, whereas the surrounding matrix is almost pure calcium carbonate. The mineralization of the brain is, according to the main author of the paper, Alan Pradel, from the MNHN, "due to the presence of bacteria that covered the brain shortly before decay and induced its phosphatization". On top of this, the environmental conditions, probably saturated with calcium phosphate, the lack of oxygen in the braincase and the presence of fatty acids in the brain may have generated a fall in pH that also shifted the appearance of calcium carbonate in favour of calcium phosphate. Scientists already knew that iniopterygians must have possessed a brain, but this new discovery can shed light on brain evolution during major evolutionary transitions, provided that other similar cases of exceptional preservation turn up in key fossils. This research also proves that, thanks to the use of microtomographic techniques in lightsources like the ESRF, details of the anatomical organisation of the nervous system in fossil brains are, from now on, potentially available. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/200...f-sda030209.php Animated lateral view of the brain http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/1...php?from=131927 This video shows a 3-D reconstruction of the iniopterygian braincase viewed from the side after a synchrotron acquisition in absorption contrast. Green is the braincase; red shows the endocranial cavity; and orange is the brain. The paper isn't up yet, but I will keep an eye out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks, Solius. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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