Acta Histochemica

Volume 115, Issue 6, July 2013, Pages 603–608

“Soft sheets of fibrillar bone from a fossil of the supraorbital horn of the dinosaur Triceratops horridus”

Abstract

“Soft fibrillar bone tissues were obtained from a supraorbital horn of Triceratops horridus collected at the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, USA. Soft material was present in pre and post-decalcified bone. Horn material yielded numerous small sheets of lamellar bone matrix. This matrix possessed visible microstructures consistent with lamellar bone osteocytes. Some sheets of soft tissue had multiple layers of intact tissues with osteocyte-like structures featuring filipodial-like interconnections and secondary branching. Both oblate and stellate types of osteocyte-like cells were present in sheets of soft tissues and exhibited organelle-like microstructures. SEM analysis yielded osteocyte-like cells featuring filipodial extensions of 18–20 μm in length. Filipodial extensions were delicate and showed no evidence of any permineralization or crystallization artifact and therefore were interpreted to be soft. This is the first report of sheets of soft tissues from Triceratops horn bearing layers of osteocytes, and extends the range and type of dinosaur specimens known to contain non-fossilized material in bone matrix.”

Mark Armitage published his findings in the scientific peer reviewed journal Acta Histochemica a year ago.  It is a journal dedicated to the structural biochemistry of cells and tissues.  This is the first time I’ve heard about this, and I find it quite interesting.  The Triceratops supposedly went extinct 60 million years ago.  How can any amount of soft tissue survive for that long?  A rational interpretation of this data is that the Triceratops possibly existed much more recently in history.  Turns out this isn’t the only dinosaur that has been found with soft tissue.

The reason this came to my attention is that Mark Armitage has lost his job at California State University.  Turns out he is a scientist that believes in creation by an intelligent designer.  Two weeks after he published his article, Armitage was reportedly told that his 38-month appointment was only temporary and that there was not enough money to continue his position.  He has filed a lawsuit.  Another example of a scientist being persecuted for having a different interpretation of the data outside of the mainstream.

Here is an article about the discovery and losing his job.  Here is a 2nd article about losing his job.  Here is a 3rd article.

Here is an article from Scientific American about other soft tissue found in dinosaurs.

As I’ve written before, I don’t believe the Earth is only 6000 years old.  I think Adam and Eve fell into sin around 6000 years ago.  We do not know how much time passed from the creation of the Universe until humanity’s fall.