Latest news with #JingmaiO'Connor
Observer
03-06-2025
- General
- Observer
This Dinosaur Had Feathers and Probably Flew Like a Chicken
In 1861, scientists discovered Archaeopteryx, a dinosaur with feathers, in 150 million-year-old limestones in Solnhofen, Germany. They didn't know it at the time, but that fossilized skeleton — and the several that followed — provided a key piece of evidence for the theory of evolution, as well as for the fact that birds were actually dinosaurs. Since then, researchers have pored over every detail of available specimens, trying to puzzle out how birds came to fly. So you might expect that such a well-studied fossil species wouldn't be capable of surprises. But in a new paper, a team led by Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, revealed previously unrecorded soft tissues and skeletal details from a new specimen, known as the Chicago Archaeopteryx. What they found also helps explain why some feathered dinosaurs got off the ground, if only for short-haul flights. Many Archaeopteryx specimens are too flattened by geology to discern important skeletal details. The latest specimen, acquired by the Field Museum in 2022, let O'Connor's team address some of the anatomical uncertainties. Unlike other specimens, the bones of the Chicago Archaeopteryx were preserved in three dimensions, allowing the researchers to better evaluate the skull's palate. That showed the earliest signs of an evolutionary trajectory toward the skulls of modern birds. In another accident of fossilization, the carcass's wings were separated from the body, leaving them 'pristinely preserved.' The team confirmed that rather than having two layers of wing feathers, Archaeopteryx actually had three. In modern birds, that third layer helps link the shorter forearm to the body to create a continuous lift surface, which allows for sustained flight. — ASHER ELBEIN / NYT
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘Important moment in evolution': Fossil preserves never-before-seen flight feathers in ‘first bird'
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. When a fossil preserves an animal's complete body in a death pose, seeing it is observing a snapshot in time. Several such fossils exist for Archaeopteryx — the earliest known bird — and now, a remarkable specimen that was off-limits to scientists for decades is offering previously unseen evidence about the first bird's ability to fly. Researchers have long wondered how Archaeopteryx took to the air while most of its feathered dinosaur cousins never left the ground, and some argued that Archaeopteryx was probably more of a glider than a true flier. The first fossils of this Jurassic winged wonder were found in southern Germany more than 160 years ago and are about 150 million years old; to date just 14 fossils have been discovered. But private collectors snapped up some of these rarities, isolating the fossils from scientific study and hobbling investigations into this pivotal moment in avian evolution. One such fossil was recently acquired by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History and has provided answers to the longstanding question about flight in Archaeopteryx. Researchers published a description of the pigeon-size specimen in the journal Nature on May 14, reporting that ultraviolet (UV) light and computed tomography (CT) scans had revealed soft tissues and structures never seen before in this ancient bird. The findings included feathers indicating that Archaeopteryx could achieve powered flight. While most Archaeopteryx fossil specimens 'are incomplete and crushed,' this fossil was missing just one digit and remained unflattened by time, said lead study author Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, a paleontologist and associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum. 'The bones are just exquisitely preserved in 3D; you really don't see that in all the other specimens,' O'Connor told CNN. 'We also have more fossilized soft tissues associated with our specimen than we've seen in any other individual.' Field Museum fossil preparators and study coauthors Akiko Shinya and Constance Van Beek worked on the specimen for more than a year. They spent hundreds of hours scanning and modeling the positions of the bones in three dimensions; chipping away shards of limestone; and using UV light to illuminate the boundaries between mineralized soft tissue and rocky matrix. Their preparation — a process that took about 1,600 hours in all, O'Connor estimated — paid off. The researchers detected the first evidence in Archaeopteryx of a group of flight feathers called tertials, which grow along the humerus between the elbow and the body and are an important component of all powered flight in modern birds. Since the 1980s, scientists have hypothesized that Archaeopteryx had tertials due to the length of its humerus, O'Connor said. But this is the first time such feathers have been found in an Archaeopteryx fossil. The surprises didn't end there. Elongated scale shapes on the toe pads hinted that Archaeopteryx spent time foraging on the ground, as modern pigeons and doves do. And bones in the roof of its mouth provided clues about the evolution of a skull feature in birds called cranial kinesis, the independent movement of skull bones relative to each other. This feature gives birds more flexibility in how they use their beaks. 'It was one 'Wow!' after another,' O'Connor said. The discovery of tertials in particular 'is an extraordinary finding because it suggests that Archaeopteryx could indeed fly,' said Dr. Susan Chapman, an associate professor in the department of biological sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Chapman, who was not involved in the research, studies bird evolution using paleontology and developmental biology. 'The preparators of the Chicago Archaeopteryx did an outstanding job of preserving not just the bone structure, but also the soft tissue impressions,' Chapman told CNN in an email. 'Because of their care, this near complete specimen provides never-before-understood insights into this transitional fossil from theropod dinosaurs to birds.' However, Archaeopteryx could probably only fly for short distances, she added. Despite having tertials, it lacked certain adaptations for powered flight seen in modern birds, such as specialized flight muscles and a breastbone extension called a keel to anchor those muscles, Chapman said. The museum acquired this Archaeopteryx specimen in 2022, and at the time, museum president and CEO Julian Siggers called it 'the Field Museum's most significant fossil acquisition since SUE the T. rex.' As a link between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and the lineage that produced all modern birds, Archaeopteryx's evolutionary importance was unquestionable. But in some ways, the museum was taking a big gamble on that particular fossil, according to O'Connor. It had been in private hands since 1990, and its condition was unknown. When it arrived at the museum, scientists weren't sure what to expect, O'Connor said. To say that the fossil exceeded their expectations would be an understatement. 'When I found out we were going to acquire an Archaeopteryx, I never in my wildest dreams thought that we were going to end up with such a spectacular specimen,' O'Connor said. 'This is one of the most important macroevolutionary transitions in Earth's life history, because this gives rise to the group of dinosaurs that not only survives the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, but then becomes the most diverse group of land vertebrates on our planet today. So this is a very, very important moment in evolution.' The significance of such specimens underscores why scientific access should be prioritized over private fossil collection, Chapman added. When fossils are sold for profit and private display rather than for study, 'their preparation is often poor, thus losing irreplaceable soft tissue structures,' she said. 'Moreover, the value of such specimens to mankind's understanding of evolution is lost for decades.' The Chicago Archaeopteryx likely preserves many other important details about bird evolution, O'Connor added. With an abundance of data already collected from the fossil and analysis still underway, its full story is yet to be told. 'There's going to be a lot more to come,' she said. 'I hope that everyone finds it as exciting as I do.' Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. She is the author of 'Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind Control' (Hopkins Press).
Observer
19-05-2025
- Science
- Observer
Chicago museum's fossil yields insights on famed early bird Archaeopteryx
A new analysis of a pigeon-sized Archaeopteryx fossil in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago is revealing an array of previously unknown features of the earliest-known bird, providing insight into its feathers, hands, feet and head. The specimen, unearthed in southern Germany, is one of the most complete and best preserved of the 14 known fossils of Archaeopteryx identified since 1861. The discovery of the first Archaeopteryx fossil, with its blend of reptile-like and bird-like features, caused a sensation, lending support to British naturalist Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution and showing that birds had descended from dinosaurs. The new study, examining the Chicago fossil using UV light to make out soft tissues and CT scans to discern minute details still embedded in the rock, shows that 164 years later there is more to learn about this celebrated creature that took flight 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. The researchers identified anatomical traits indicating that while Archaeopteryx was capable of flight, it probably spent a lot of time on the ground and may have been able to climb trees. The scientists identified for the first time in an Archaeopteryx fossil the presence of specialized feathers called tertials on both wings. These innermost flight feathers of the wing are attached to the elongated humerus bone in the upper arm. Birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs, which lacked tertials. The discovery of them in Archaeopteryx, according to the researchers, suggests that tertials, present in many birds today, evolved specifically for flight. Feathered dinosaurs lacking tertials would have had a gap between the feathered surface of their upper arms and the body. "To generate lift, the aerodynamic surface must be continuous with the body. So in order for flight using feathered wings to evolve, dinosaurs had to fill this gap - as we see in Archaeopteryx," said Field Museum paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor, lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Although we have studied Archaeopteryx for over 160 years, so much basic information is still controversial. Is it a bird? Could it fly? The presence of tertials supports the interpretation that the answer to both these questions is 'yes,'" O'Connor added. The delicate specimen, preserved in three dimensions rather than squashed flat like many fossils, was painstakingly prepared to protect soft tissue remains, which glowed under ultraviolet light. Birds are the only members of the dinosaur lineage to have survived a mass extinction 66 million years ago, caused by an asteroid striking Earth. Archaeopteryx boasted reptilian traits like teeth, a long and bony tail, and claws on its hands, alongside bird-like traits like wings formed by large, asymmetrical feathers. The soft tissue of its toe pads appears to have been adapted for spending a lot of its life on the ground, consistent with the limited flight capabilities that Archaeopteryx is believed to have possessed. "That's not to say it couldn't perch. It could do so still pretty well. But the point being that near the beginning of powered flight, Archaeopteryx was still spending most of its time on the ground," said study co-author Alex Clark, a doctoral student in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum. The soft tissue on the hand suggests that the first and third fingers were mobile and could be used for climbing. An examination of Archaeopteryx's palate - roof of the mouth - confirmed that its skull was immobile, unlike many living birds. But there was skeletal evidence of the first stages in the evolution of a trait that lets the beak move independently from the braincase, as seen in modern birds. The fossil possesses the only complete Archaeopteryx vertebral column, including two tiny vertebrae at the tip of the tail showing it had 24 vertebrae, one more than previously thought. The museum last year announced the acquisition of the fossil, which it said had been in the hands of a series of private collectors since being unearthed sometime before 1990. "This specimen is arguably the best Archaeopteryx ever found and we're learning a ton of new things from it," O'Connor said. "I consider Archaeopteryx to be the most important fossil species of all time. It is, after all, the icon of evolution, and evolution is the unifying concept of the biological sciences. Not only is Archaeopteryx the oldest-known fossil bird, with birds today being the most successful lineage of land vertebrates, it is the species that demonstrates that birds are living dinosaurs," O'Connor said. —Reuters
Time of India
16-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Is this dinosaur fossil the shocking key to how birds learned to fly?
Image: Reuters For centuries, humans have looked to the skies and wished they could fly, to be as free as a bird. Little did we know, a scrappy little dinosaur beat us to it 150 million years ago. Meet Archaeopteryx , the feathered trailblazer of aviation, whose newly analysed fossil has scientists flapping with excitement. Found in limestone so hard it almost kept its secrets forever, this exquisitely preserved specimen has revealed the fine-tuned flight features of Earth's original frequent flyer. No boarding pass needed, no fuel required, and certainly no rules about entering enemy airspace. Ancient dinosaur fossil reveals secrets of the first bird flight, 150 million years ago The fossil, which had been in private hands before being acquired by the Field Museum in 2022, is the first known Archaeopteryx specimen to reveal specialised tertial feathers—the aerodynamic finishing touches that created a smooth transition from wing to body. These feathers, found on the upper arm bone, were absent in other feathered dinosaurs that couldn't fly, making them a crucial piece of evolutionary engineering that helped lift this little dinosaur off the ground. What makes Archaeopteryx so special by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 3 Reasons to Plug This Into Your Home Today elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Learn More Undo While Archaeopteryx wasn't the first dinosaur to sport feathers or even rudimentary wings, this specimen shows that it was likely the first to truly fly. It had asymmetric feathers, a telltale trait of flight-capable birds that generates thrust. Combined with a long upper arm bone and the newly discovered tertial feathers, it had the right hardware to break from the bounds of the earth, even if just for short distances or gliding from tree to tree. Not just a pretty wing CT scans and UV light imaging revealed not only feathers but also features like cranial kinesis—a flexible upper beak found in modern birds. The fossil even preserved tiny scales on the feet, suggesting that Archaeopteryx spent much of its time on the ground and may have been a decent climber. Its claws and long, bony tail added to its unique combination of birdlike and dinosaurian traits. The missing link takes flight Discovered over 160 years ago in Germany's Solnhofen limestone, Archaeopteryx has always been a prime suspect in the mystery of bird evolution . But this Chicago specimen confirms what scientists long suspected—this was no ground-bound, feathered poser, but a legitimate flyer. As Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, the study's lead author, put it, this dinosaur could probably fly while its close cousins could only dream. A leap for science, a flap for evolution With this discovery, scientists are one step closer to solving the puzzle of how birds evolved from ground-dwelling dinosaurs. This feathered fossil bridges the gap with a mix of bones, feathers, and attitude. And while we humans are still perfecting our wings through engineering, it's humbling to know that flight began with a little dinosaur that just decided to flap and go.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Scientists discover Archaeopteryx fossil that sheds light on the first flight
Long before feathers meant flight, one creature made the very first leap. And now, because of an astonishing fossil, scientists are getting their clearest look yet at how that first journey into the skies began. In a remarkable discovery , a newly analyzed fossil of 'Archaeopteryx (genus of bird-like dinosaurs)', often dubbed the " first bird ," is providing unprecedented insights into the evolution of flight. Also Read: Human skull on Mars? Continue to video 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Quote Undo Discovered in southern Germany and now housed at Chicago's Field Museum, this 14th known specimen of Archaeopteryx is the most complete to date. Unearthed before 1990 and acquired by the museum in 2022, the fossil remained largely encased in rock until recently. Over 1,300 meticulous hours of preparation revealed a nearly intact skeleton, complete with soft tissues and feathers, a rarity in the fossil record. Live Events "This is the best Archaeopteryx fossil ever found, of what's arguably the most important fossil taxon of all time," said Jingmai O'Connor, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Field Museum and lead author of the study published in Nature . And even 164 years after the discovery of Archaeopteryx, no other feathered dinosaur discovery has been able to knock it off its perch as the first bird, O'Connor says. Advanced imaging techniques, including ultraviolet light and CT scans, unveiled details that were never seen previously. Also Read: Antarctica hides massive secrets under its vast ice shelves Researchers identified specialized inner wing feathers called 'tertials', which connect the wings to the body, forming a continuous aerodynamic surface essential for flight. This feature, absent in non-flying feathered dinosaurs, suggests that Archaeopteryx was capable of powered flight. The scientists also found scaled feet, which indicate that Archaeopteryx spent significant time on the ground, while the structure of its hands suggests it could climb trees. The combination of flight, walking, and climbing abilities paints a picture of a versatile creature adapting to various environments. The fossil also provides the only complete vertebral column of Archaeopteryx discovered so far, including two tiny vertebrae at the tail's tip, bringing the total to 24, one more than previously known. This comprehensive preservation allows scientists to study the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to modern birds in greater detail. "This specimen is arguably the best Archaeopteryx ever found, and we're learning a ton of new things from it," O'Connor remarked. "I consider Archaeopteryx to be the most important fossil species of all time. It is, after all, the icon of evolution, and evolution is the unifying concept of the biological sciences." The Field Museum's acquisition and study of this fossil underscore the enduring importance of Archaeopteryx in understanding the origins of flight and the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds.
