A reconstruction of Anchiornus, based on the new data. (Credit: Julius T. Csotonyi) Firing lasers at fossils continues to be a winning strategy for paleontologists. The new technique brings hidden details in fossils to the forefront, including remnants of soft tissue invisible to the naked eye. And a team of researchers from China is using the laser-assisted images to help piece together the evolutionary process that turned dinosaurs into the birds we know today. In a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the team fixed its lasers onto a small feathered dinosaur called Anchiornus to better understand its morphology. The technique, called laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF), causes minerals within the bones to light up in different colors, betraying the soft tissues they once were.
An arm of Anchiornus, imaged with laser-stimulated fluorescence. (Credit: Wang XL, Pittman M et al. 2017) With the new perspective, the researchers spotted a host of bird-like ...
