Dr. Mary Schweitzer will speak on “Tyrannosaurus rex Under the Microscope” on Saturday, September 22nd at 2:30 in the Harms Gallery at the Calvert Marine Museum. Soft tissues, like connective tissue and muscle, are exceedingly rare in the fossil record. This presentation is about finding soft tissues preserved in Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. FREE and open to the public.
Dr. Schweitzer is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at NC State University. She grew up in Montana and is fascinated by what allows animals to survive and thrive in their worlds. We know that there is inherent and inherited biology contained in the molecules (the DNA and proteins) of living animals. One would assume that the molecules of ancient animals would hold this same information. But after 65 million years, what is left? And how is it deciphered? How are molecules changed from the living state? What survives, and how can it be recovered? How do animals transition from being part of a living ecosystem to being part of the fossil record? This information and the technologies that allow us to answer those questions are the focus of Schweitzer’s research interests and her lecture.
