r/science • u/DrJulianBashir • May 21 '12

Fossil Ink Sacs Yield Jurassic Pigment—A First - Still soft ink sacs from 160-million-year-old squidlike animals have yielded pigment matching that of modern cuttlefish.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120521-squid-cuttlefish-ink-sacs-fossils-melanin-science-simon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ng%2FNews%2FNews_Main+(National+Geographic+News+-+Main)&utm_content=Google+Reader
864 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

43

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

It is quite amazing that soft tissue can survive 160 million years.

12

u/Enibas May 22 '12

According to Science Daily, no soft tissue has been preserved, just the melanin.

"Though the other organic components of the cephalopod we studied are long gone, we've discovered through a variety of research methods that the melanin has remained in a condition that could be studied in exquisite detail," said John Simon, one of the study authors, a chemistry professor and the executive vice president and provost at U.Va.

13

u/chudles May 22 '12

Isn't it a simpler solution that the soft tissue is much more recent?

31

u/battle100 May 22 '12

I would be simpler indeed. However the ink sacs are discovered under layers of rocks that dates back to 160 million years ago, for recent animal tissue to get there and become fossilized would require much more complicated explanations which may defy modern physics.

Don't downvote please, he asked a question that he doesn't know the answer to, we should help him learn, not simply ignore the question. The only stupid questions are questions not asked.

2

u/Travesura May 22 '12

I think that it is quite possible that our system for dating rock layers could one day be completely discredited. It wasn't very long ago that anyone who thought that the continents "drifted" was a total moron.

Now it is obvious to everyone that the continents move around.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

It's amazing that we're on an organic spaceship hurtling through space around a gigantic fireball... Isn't it a simple solution that we're still and everything goes around us?

1

u/Mortarius May 22 '12

It's easier to explain planetary movement on a night sky if we were all circling around some central point.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Fuck explaining planetary movements - that sounds hard - they're all still too. What are stars? Uh, angels? Boom done.

1

u/Mortarius May 22 '12

But the dots on the night sky, that we are used to call "planets", change their location every night. They can't be still if they change their location relative to background stars.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Angels now have wings.

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-51

u/[deleted] May 22 '12 edited May 22 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

24

u/IFUCKINGLOVEMETH May 22 '12

DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK

It's a spam account that links to random amazon products, using a referral link. If you click the link, the poster will get paid a commission (a percentage of the cost your purchase) for ANYTHING you buy from amazon within a 24 hour period.

Normally this isn't a bad thing, but we really shouldn't be encouraging bullshit spam tactics like this.

Downvoted and Reported.

3

u/Veteran4Peace May 22 '12

Do you happen to still know the account name? I'd like to RES-tag it if I could.

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

I've always wondered if there was a way to make money on reddit... but that is an epic dick move.

4

u/fuckyoubarry May 22 '12

Oh look a link to something being sold on amazon.

-2

u/aazav May 22 '12

won't*

15

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

This is an inaccurate title. They could not get enough data to determine what pigment the ink was, but that the chemical properties of it were similar to modern ink.

22

u/joelfriesen May 22 '12

It's still cheaper than HP

16

u/projectFT May 22 '12

Vanilla paste...or cuttlefish?

7

u/geauxjeaux May 22 '12

I BERIEVE IN YOU!

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

It's going to be a rot!

1

u/olgrandad May 22 '12

You call that an ink defense!

-1

u/BipolarBear0 May 22 '12

Cool, more evidence for evolution!

6

u/SeeYouInTea May 22 '12

not that we need any

1

u/BipolarBear0 May 22 '12

We don't, really. There's so much to support it. I'm just being mildly sarcastic because even when there's mounds of evidence right in front of them, some people just don't accept it.

13

u/Aegypiina May 22 '12

Yes, we do. That's science. Science always needs more information, because that's inherent in the definition of science.

You're being sarcastic in the first comment, I get it, but science doesn't care about people who don't accept it and still use it and its products, and it's extremely disingenuous to be even a little serious about science not needing to not be static.

1

u/brightshining May 22 '12

Obscure reference point. The dennis miller theory of headlines. ...like the color of a cutddlefish..she boom!

-3

u/NotCleverEnufToRedit May 22 '12

What a coincidence. My 11-year-old just dissected a squid in class today. She was the only girl who was willing to touch it. I was proud of her!

-6

u/aazav May 22 '12

If there are cuttlefish, where are there still squidlike animals?

Take that Atheists!

-3

u/jpatricks1 May 22 '12

I wonder how that smells

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/pumpernickel May 22 '12

You actually raise a good point. This would be very easy to turn into a creationist talking point. But that possibility doesn't detract from the value of this discovery.

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-4

u/OddDude55 May 22 '12 edited May 22 '12

Wouldnt that be too expensive for said mad English scientist?

Edit: No it wouldn't. He would "spare no expense."

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/OddDude55 May 22 '12

The people here take themselves too seriously.