Fossilized bones are revealing secrets from a lost world
Researchers have uncovered thousands of preserved metabolic molecules inside fossilized bones millions of years old, offering a surprising new window into prehistoric life. The findings reveal animals’ diets, diseases, and even their surrounding climate, including evidence of warmer, wetter environments. One fossil even showed signs of a parasite still known today. This approach could transform how scientists reconstruct ancient ecosystems.
For the first time, researchers have successfully examined metabolism-related molecules preserved inside fossilized bones from animals that lived between 1.3 and 3 million years ago. These chemical traces offer rare insight into the animals themselves and the environments they once inhabited.
By analyzing metabolic signals tied to health and diet, the scientists were able to reconstruct details about ancient climates and landscapes, including temperature, soil conditions, rainfall, and vegetation. The results, published in Nature, point to environments that were significantly warmer…
