Saturday, March 22, 2014

Unique chromosomes preserved in Swedish fossil

Researchers from Lund University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History have made a neat discovery regarding a fern that lived approximately 180 million years ago. Cell nuclei and individual chromosomes have been found due to the plant's sudden burial after a volcanic eruption. The preservation was so quick and instantaneous that the plant didn't have time to start decomposing, and some cells were frozen in the process of mitosis. A study of the fossil revealed that the fern was largely similar to ferns present today, which suggested limited evolution over the years. Many scientists are excited over the idea that there is so much that they can learn from this preserved specimen. Analysis of the plants and the volcanic rock indicates that Early-Jurassic Sweden was a hot, humid climate when the volcano erupted.


NOS Themes:

Science is based on evidence
Role of curiosity
Science is collaborative

Link to the full article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140321101730.htm

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 23, 2014 at 4:17 PM

    Huh, I wonder if that means that fossils potentially could gives us windows into not only environments climates and the past, but maybe an idea of what the future might look like. If so in theory if the fern hasn't changed much does that point to a leveling point for all organisms where they just stop evolving or natural selection causes change to be so minimal? Also are there any other fossils like this? Is heat and ash the only thing that can cause these fossils what about an immediate freeze over. Would this be a viable way to preserve current plants for observation?

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  2. AnonymousMarch 23, 2014 at 8:46 PM

    Mark, very thought-provoking article. I was interested and researched further on this fern. I found out that the ferm fossil was collected in the 1960s and remained in the Swedish Museum on Natural History, forgotten until brought to attention by researchers. Isn't that interesting that this is only discovered now after they had had it for over 40 years? If you'd like to learn more, check out this link: http://www.steppe.org/fern-chromosomes-discovered-in-fossil-indicating-evolutionary-stability/

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  3. AnonymousMarch 25, 2014 at 9:11 AM

    This discovery gives us some really good insight on life in prehistoric times. By analyzing this we can see how much our modern day plants have evolved and we can possibly get a good guess on where they might be going. It is also possible many more organisms like this where preserved, like evan mentioned, and we could discover so much more about the past because of this.

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