{"id":6126,"date":"2025-02-14T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/lasers-waffle-fries-and-the-secrets-in-pterosaurs-tails\/"},"modified":"2025-02-14T12:00:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T12:00:27","slug":"lasers-waffle-fries-and-the-secrets-in-pterosaurs-tails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/lasers-waffle-fries-and-the-secrets-in-pterosaurs-tails\/","title":{"rendered":"Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs\u2019 Tails"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/articles\/100673\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">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<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">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<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After surveying over 100 pterosaur specimens, scientists picked four from the species Rhamphorhynchus<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">, <\/em>which often had diamond-shaped, kitelike tail vanes, for follow-up with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC4446324\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">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 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/13\/science\/mummies-tattoos-laser-peru.html\" title=\"\">archaeological investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The laser method makes use of how some minerals glow when electrons absorb and then re-emit light. As a laser passes over the fossils, long-exposure digital photography captures hidden features that stand out<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pictures from the first pterosaur specimen they scanned showed a lattice structure in the tail vane. For Dr. Pittman, this was \u201ca ta-da<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt looks like the kind of crisscross on a waffle fry,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that structure in engineering is a reinforcing structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The \u201cstruts\u201d of this lattice could have been beneficial to flight, Dr. Jagielska said. They would \u201ctense up when you have a gust of air, similar to a sail in a ship, and that probably reduces the flutter\u201d and might have helped the pterosaur in \u201cmaking turns,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Scientists say the primary function for the vane still could have been social display, like a peacock\u2019s tail feathers are a signal to attract mates. In that vein, the vane most likely had prominent colors and patterns that are not preserved in the fossil record, Dr. Pittman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even so, like a modern billboard, the \u201cdisplay surface\u201d needed support structures, which this study reveals in pterosaurs for the first time, Dr. Pittman said. Had the vane fluttered unfettered, it would have been \u201cextremely costly and simultaneously useless as a visual signal,\u201d said Michael Habib, a pterosaur flight expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an author of the study.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The result is a significant advancement in the study of pterosaurs, said Andrea Cau, a paleontologist in Italy who was not involved in the study. He noted that one of the pterosaur fossils had not shown any soft-tissue details using other techniques but that the laser fluorescence had brought them out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cGiven the rarity of soft-tissue remains in paleontology, even just a single new fossil makes the difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Future studies of pterosaur tails may illuminate \u201cjust how good was this structure as a rudder or as a stabilizer,\u201d said Scott Persons, a paleontologist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina who was not involved in this study. Given that different pterosaurs had differently sized vanes, more research may also show whether that variation had to do more with optimizing flight or \u201cfashion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Jagielska would like to explore why the long tails with vanes disappeared in pterosaurs by the start of the Cretaceous period, about 146 million years ago. Further laser scanning may also bring out other characteristics important to pterosaur flight. A better understanding of their anatomy could even inspire airborne vehicles someday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf they were so efficient that they could live for hundreds of millions of years, they probably are doing something right,\u201d Dr. Jagielska said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/14\/science\/pterosaur-tails-fossils.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Above the shores of prehistoric seas and lakes, pterosaurs roamed the skies. They were feathered creatures that ranged in size<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[778,2434,322,2433,323,1194,268,188],"class_list":["post-6126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-anatomy-and-physiology","tag-elife-journal","tag-fossils","tag-laser-light-amplification-by-stimulated-emission-of-radiation","tag-paleontology","tag-pterosaurs","tag-research","tag-your-feed-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs\u2019 Tails - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/lasers-waffle-fries-and-the-secrets-in-pterosaurs-tails\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lasers, Waffle Fries and the Secrets in Pterosaurs\u2019 Tails - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Above the shores of prehistoric seas and lakes, pterosaurs roamed the skies. 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