November 17, 2023

Jaydaniah Quitugua

10th Grade

George Washington High School

Dinosaurs are an extinct species that have been studied for many years through their fossils. The first recorded study occurred around the 1600s but wasn’t officially published until 1677. Since dinosaurs were extinct before the existence of human beings, there’s a lot unknown. Studies and theories are still being conducted. 

An example of the studies is fossilized dinosaur feathers. It has shown that dinosaur feathers have a very similar protein composition to those of modern birds, thus providing evidence to the theory that birds are a close relative to the dinosaur species. It also adds that the chemistry of feathers originated much earlier than it was thought.

In September 2023, a press release from University College Cork was published. Inside the press release, one of the many paleontologists who worked on this experiment, Tiffany Slater, expands on the research that is being done. “We developed a new method to detect traces of ancient feather proteins,” said Dr. Slater. “Using X-rays and infrared light, we found that feathers from Sinornithosaurus (SINE-or-nith-oh-SAWR-us.) contained lots of beta-proteins, just like feathers of birds today.”

Along with that, previous tests done in UCC have shown that the dinosaur feathers happened to mainly be composed of alpha-proteins. They were eventually leading to the belief that the beta-proteins transformed into alpha-proteins over time. “Modern bird feathers are rich in beta-proteins that help strengthen feathers for flight,” Dr. Slater says. “Previous tests on dinosaur feathers, though, found mostly alpha-proteins. Our experiments can now explain this weird chemistry as the result of protein degradation during the fossilization process. So although some fossil feathers do preserve traces of the original beta-proteins, other fossil feathers are damaged and tell us a false narrative about feather evolution.”

University College Cork’s Professor Maria McNamara explains how fossilization can make research on biochemicals and biomolecules difficult due to the fossils being “cooked and squashed”. "Traces of ancient biomolecules can clearly survive for millions of years, but you can’t read the fossil record literally because even seemingly well-preserved fossil tissues have been cooked and squashed during fossilization," said McNamara. 

“We’re developing new tools to understand what happens during fossilization and unlock the chemical secrets of fossils," McNamara said, "This will give us exciting new insights into evolution.” There are many similarities between dinosaurs and birds - not only through physical traits but their biochemical compositions as well. So, next time you see a bird, think of it as a modern-day dinosaur, just slightly less vicious.