{"id":22256,"date":"2025-02-14T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22256"},"modified":"2025-02-14T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:34:08","slug":"lasers-waffle-fries-and-the-secrets-in-pterosaurs-tails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=22256","title":{"rendered":"Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs\u2019 Tails"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scientists identified new structures in the tail vanes of the prehistoric flying reptiles.<\/p>\n

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Above the shores of prehistoric seas and lakes, pterosaurs roamed the skies. They were feathered creatures that ranged in size from pigeons to planes, and the first vertebrates known to have been able to fly. And for millions of years, they had long tails ending in a prominent flap of skin called a vane.<\/p>\n

Paleontologists have long wondered about this strange appendage and its purpose. A team of scientists using a laser scanning technology have found new structures in four pterosaur fossils that helped keep the vane stiff, suggesting it aided maneuvering in flight.<\/p>\n

The study<\/a>, published in December in the journal eLife, shows that \u201ceven fossils that we knew and studied in detail for hundreds of years might have new things to show if you develop new technology to see them,\u201d said Natalia Jagielska, a paleontologist at the Lyme Regis Museum in England and the paper\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jagielska, also a professional artist, became involved in the research after Michael Pittman, a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, approached her about illustrating a children\u2019s book. They teamed up to examine pterosaur fossils in collections in England and Scotland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After surveying over 100 pterosaur specimens, scientists picked four from the species Rhamphorhynchus, <\/em>which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes, for follow-up with laser-stimulated fluorescence<\/a>. Dr. Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye, director of the Foundation for Scientific Advancement and an author of the study, have promoted the technique for exploring dinosaur-era remains and for archaeological investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Scientists used laser-stimulated fluorescence to study four species of Rhamphorhynchus, which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes.<\/span>Jagielska et al., eLife 2025<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Scientists identified new structures in the tail vanes of the prehistoric flying reptiles.Above the shores of prehistoric seas and lakes, pterosaurs roamed the skies. They were feathered creatures that ranged in size from pigeons to planes, and the first vertebrates known to have been able to fly. And for millions of years, they had long tails ending in a prominent flap of skin called a vane.Paleontologists have long wondered about this strange appendage and its purpose. A team of scientists using a laser scanning technology have found new structures in four pterosaur fossils that helped keep the vane stiff, suggesting it aided maneuvering in flight.The study, published in December in the journal eLife, shows that \u201ceven fossils that we knew and studied in detail for hundreds of years might have new things to show if you develop new technology to see them,\u201d said Natalia Jagielska, a paleontologist at the Lyme Regis Museum in England and the paper\u2019s lead author.Dr. Jagielska, also a professional artist, became involved in the research after Michael Pittman, a paleontologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, approached her about illustrating a children\u2019s book. They teamed up to examine pterosaur fossils in collections in England and Scotland.After surveying over 100 pterosaur specimens, scientists picked four from the species Rhamphorhynchus, which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes, for follow-up with laser-stimulated fluorescence. Dr. Pittman and Thomas G. Kaye, director of the Foundation for Scientific Advancement and an author of the study, have promoted the technique for exploring dinosaur-era remains and for archaeological investigations.Scientists used laser-stimulated fluorescence to study four species of Rhamphorhynchus, which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes.Jagielska et al., eLife 2025We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22258,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22259,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22256\/revisions\/22259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}