The last 3 million years at a snail's pace: A tiny trapdoor opens a new way to date the past
Thursday, August 4, 2011 - 09:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
British scientists are using an ‘amino acid time capsule’ to date the Quaternary period, stretching back nearly three million years. It is the first widespread application of refinements of the 40-year-old technique of amino acid geochronology. The refined method measures the breakdown of a closed system of protein in fossil snail shells, and provides a method of dating archaeological and geological sites.