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七彩羽毛化石
这是最新的科学新闻。4千万年前的彩色羽毛化石
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2009-8-27 09:02
Evidence Of Iridescence In 40 Million-year-old Feather FossilScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2009) — Known for their wide variety of vibrant plumage, birds have evolved various chemical and physical mechanisms to produce these beautiful colors over millions of years. A team of paleontologists and ornithologists led by Yale University has now discovered evidence of vivid iridescent colors in feather fossils more than 40 million years old.
The finding, published online August 26 in Biology Letters, signifies the first evidence of a preserved color-producing nanostructure in a fossilized feather.
Iridescence is the quality of changing color depending on the angle of observation, such as the rainbow of colors seen in an oil slick. The simplest iridescent feather colors are produced by light scattering off the feather's surface and a smooth surface of melanin pigment granules within the feather protein. Examining feather fossils from the Messel Shale in Germany with an electron microscope, scientists have documented this smooth layer of melanin structures, called melanosomes.
英文部分大致翻译如下:
鸟类进化出多种物理、化学机制,产生有种种多彩绚丽的羽毛。最近耶鲁大学的古生物学者发现了4千万千年的彩色羽毛化石。 该发现已经发表在《生物学通讯》杂志上,作为羽毛发生颜色的最早化石证据。
彩虹色往往随着观察角度的不同而色彩不同。最简单的彩虹色羽毛是由于光反射羽毛表面的色素粒子而产生。羽毛表面具有色素粒子蛋白。
该德国化石在电子显微镜的观察下,也发现有相关的色素粒子结构层…… |
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