NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 26 number 2 - Winter 2006

Friends of the Library News--Fall Luncheon 2005, Mary Schweitzer and T. rex

By Anne Schnatter, Friends of the Library

The 2005 Friends of the Library Fall Luncheon, held on October 24, 2005, featured paleontologist Mary Schweitzer, who holds a joint appointment with NC State and with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Her lecture, entitled “Exceptional Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex,” illuminated recent findings that have attracted the attention of the national media. Her discovery that the specialized bone tissue in Tyrannosaurus rex closely resembles the tissue of modern flightless birds such as ostriches and emus provides further evidence that birds and dinosaurs share evolutionary links. Tyrannosaurus rex and modern flightless birds also have similar reproductive physiologies, which were clearly visible in pictures shown during the presentation. In a separate experiment, Schweitzer demineralized the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex and found that some well-preserved fossils contain soft and pliable tissues such as blood vessels and cells. The NCSU Libraries looks forward to hearing what will come next for this scientist, who is a source of great pride to the North Carolina State University community for her pioneering research.