Re: T.Rex Feather Skepticism

[Aidan Karley <aidan_karley@yahoo.co.uk>]

In article <2cda178cc32df7f846843e674df9e3b5@earthlink.net>, Neal Romanek 
wrote:
> A feathered T. Rex, for example, 
> would produce literally tons of feathers in its lifetime. Where has all 
> this tonnage gone?
>
       Corollary : does feather produce any useful "biomarker" type 
molecules which would be amenable to bulk processing?
       I don't think it's very likely, feather being basically rolled-up 
lumps of keratin? - but it's something that should be quite amenable to 
laboratory experiment, stick your feather pillow in a RockEval pyrolysis 
machine and sniff what comes out. Compare results with RockEval results 
from the oil industry and see if you see any worthwhile targets.
       
-- 
 Aidan Karley,
 Aberdeen, Scotland,
 Location: 57°10' N,  02°09'  W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
 Written at Wed, 07 Sep 2005 07:56 +0100



                
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