Re: Dinosaur heart found?

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/21/00 1:35:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
dinoland@mailcity.com writes:

> And, yeah, Dr. Brochu in the Fox News report questioned why only the heart 
> would be preserved.  Russell or one of the other authors mentioned 
something 
> about bacteria, but why would this bacteria only target the heart?  

Well, Russell was asked this question during his National Public Radio 
appearance, and he answered that he did not know why the heart specifically 
was preserved, except that it is composed of very dense muscle, as opposed to 
the other viscera, which tend to be rather soft and spongy.

And what of the aorta, which is very evident as a tubular structure in the 
QuickTime animation available from dinoheart.org?

As for soft-tissue preservation being rare in South Dakota sediments, there 
are other unossified tissues preserved in this very same specimen 
(cartilaginous uncinate processes and sternal ribs, possible tendons along 
the vertebral column).  Russell also mentioned on NPR that some of the other 
shapes visible in the CT scans might be other organs but that they had not 
been subjected to the same scrutiny as the purported heart.

Anyway, just some more to chew on.

Nick Pharris