Dinosaur Meat

Theopolitan

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...doesn't last millions of years.

Eighty-Five Reports of Biological Remnants in Fossils

A new review paper published in the journal Expert Review of Proteomics summarizes 85 reports of organic remains in fossils.

...

The review paper noted that biomaterials like proteins always decay over time, and that experiments show that although some might last thousands of years, none should last millions. The study authors therefore had to admit to the ridiculously huge difference between experimental expectations and the actual fossil finds and the dates traditionally ascribed to them. Biomaterial preservation appears not to care about creature kinds, continents, or even rock layers. Organic remains could pop up anywhere one finds fossils. In the end, readers are left to find their own ways to explain these three trends from the 85 scientific reports.​
 
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Tom 1

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...doesn't last millions of years.

Eighty-Five Reports of Biological Remnants in Fossils

A new review paper published in the journal Expert Review of Proteomics summarizes 85 reports of organic remains in fossils.

...

The review paper noted that biomaterials like proteins always decay over time, and that experiments show that although some might last thousands of years, none should last millions. The study authors therefore had to admit to the ridiculously huge difference between experimental expectations and the actual fossil finds and the dates traditionally ascribed to them. Biomaterial preservation appears not to care about creature kinds, continents, or even rock layers. Organic remains could pop up anywhere one finds fossils. In the end, readers are left to find their own ways to explain these three trends from the 85 scientific reports.​

Dem bones dem bones…doesn’t work so well if you try to put petrified in there, true. Maybe ossified to petrified, dem bones is formal-de-hyde - no? Ok then.
 
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Job 33:6

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...doesn't last millions of years.

Eighty-Five Reports of Biological Remnants in Fossils

A new review paper published in the journal Expert Review of Proteomics summarizes 85 reports of organic remains in fossils.

...

The review paper noted that biomaterials like proteins always decay over time, and that experiments show that although some might last thousands of years, none should last millions. The study authors therefore had to admit to the ridiculously huge difference between experimental expectations and the actual fossil finds and the dates traditionally ascribed to them. Biomaterial preservation appears not to care about creature kinds, continents, or even rock layers. Organic remains could pop up anywhere one finds fossils. In the end, readers are left to find their own ways to explain these three trends from the 85 scientific reports.​

Actually studies have suggested that DNA (more delicate than "meat", in particular can actually last millions of years.

And yet, still no dinosaur genomes have been sequenced.

Wonder why? :tearsofjoy:

How long does DNA last?

Boston Strangler Case: How Long Does DNA Last? | Live Science
 
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Theopolitan

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Actually studies have suggested that DNA (more delicate than "meat", in particular can actually last millions of years.

And yet, still no dinosaur genomes have been sequenced.

Wonder why? :tearsofjoy:
Baloney.
 
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Job 33:6

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What's balony? That there has been published research suggesting that DNA can last millions of years?

Sorry to break the news to you. But it is what it is.

How long can DNA last? A million years, maybe more

The key point here is that, under ideal conditions of preservation, organic molecules are known to be able to last millions of years. Just like how we can preserve delicate sperm and eggs in cryo chambers seemingly forever. Given the right environments for preservation, indeed it is known and widely accepted that organics can indeed last millions of years, including DNA.

And to answer my own question above, someone might say well, if DNA can last millions of years then why haven't we sequenced a dinosaur genome? The answer is because while remnants of organics remain in some fossils, they're largely degraded and broken down or they're essentially permineralized or preserved in crystalline lattices of minerals. But still too degraded to sequence, at least this far.

However we have sequenced genomes of extinct animals like saber tooth tigers, whooly mammoths, neanderthals etc., Because these species died out just 10,000 years ago or so, so they haven't been extinct long enough for their DNA to degrade away. Whereas dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago, and so we've had a harder time finding anything capable of being sequences.

DNA has a 521-year half-life

By comparing the specimens' ages and degrees of DNA degradation, the researchers calculated that DNA has a half-life of 521 years. That means that after 521 years, half of the bonds between nucleotides in the backbone of a sample would have broken; after another 521 years half of the remaining bonds would have gone; and so on.

The team predicts that even in a bone at an ideal preservation temperature of −5 ºC, effectively every bond would be destroyed after a maximum of 6.8 million years. The DNA would cease to be readable much earlier — perhaps after roughly 1.5 million years, when the remaining strands would be too short to give meaningful information.




A common rule of thumb with respect to half lives in geology is that typically after 10 half lives, whatever is decaying generally becomes unreadable. Which means that under normal conditions, DNA might normally decay by around 6,000 years old.

By introducing cold temperatures and ideal preservation, laboratories have been able to slow their decay artificially at a rate in which they would last up to 6.8 million years. Which means that in the natural world, such as in an environment in which a whooly mammoth gets frozen in ice, we might expect their DNA to last longer than 6000 years, but probably less than a few million years.

But, that's not to be confused with long term preservation of degraded organics. Certain things like permineralization has been observed to preserve proteins for tens of millions of years in several species of dinosaur. Meaning that some organics last longer than DNA under ideal forms of preservation, such as in anoxic environments where there isn't aerobic bacterial decay, or in areas like swamps where there may be rapid burial and protection from predation.
 
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SkyWriting

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The review paper noted that biomaterials like proteins always decay over time, and that experiments show that although some might last thousands of years, none should last millions.
We should re-check in a million years and see how long proteins are currently holding up.
 
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