image: Collage of images. Top, optical images of: blue jay feather, squid, and fossil fish with feather. Bottom: x-ray images showing the distribution of copper (red) in the same organisms. Copper in the dark parts of the feathers, the fish eye, and the squid ink sack indicates the presence of eumelanin pigmentation and in combination with other elements can be used to map pigment distributions in fossils and existing organisms. Photos by Phil Manning/Nick Edwards/Holly Barden, University of Manchester. Data were collected at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, image created by Gregory Stewart, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This image relates to an article that appeared in the June 30, 2011, issue of Science Express, published by AAAS. The study, by Roy A. Wogelius of University of Manchester in Manchester, UK, and colleagues was titled, "Trace Metals as Biomarkers for Eumelanin Pigment in the Fossil Record." view more
Credit: [Photos by Phil Manning, Nick Edwards and Holly Bardeon of University of Manchester; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory; Gregory Stewart, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory]