Being an educator at the DNALC does not mean that everything has to be all “DNA”!  Sometimes, it’s all about proteins.  My background is in ecology and evolution, with a particular bent towards dinosaurs.  In 2005, dinosaur paleontologists decided to slice the leg bone of a 68 million year old Tyrannosaurus rex, just to see what it looked like inside.  They were in for a surprise.  There were remnants of soft tissue – still present after 68 million years!!

In 2007, they were able to identify and compare seven protein sequences.  Three of these proteins seemed to be closely related to chickens.  More >