Did scientists really find dinosaur soft tissue?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Scientsits were thrilled -- as were dino-lovers all over -- when researchers announced three years ago that they had found what appeared to be soft tissue inside a fossil bone from a Tyrannosaurus rex. The researchers, working in Montana, had been forced to break a femur into chunks small enough to be transported by helicopter.

But now another group of scientists suggests that the rubbery material found inside the bone is really 70-million-year-old slime made up of bacterial colonies. As often happens with science, opinion is divided on the matter. The Times’ Wendy Hansen has all the details on the T. rex femur.