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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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As one of people I can tell you that they dont. (But this might also be a small sample size)
I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. I remember from my childhood that it was a big deal when they found samples of dinosaur skin and eggshells. So I wonder, is this information simply “hidden” in the rocks surrounding the fosil bones, and can now be examined with these new techniques? Or does it take an exceptionally well-preserved sample that can now be analyzed in much greater detail, revealing more information?
It's both, as in not all fossils preserve things other than hard tissues, but new methods allow both deeper examination and understanding of known exceptional preservation, and discovery of previously unknown soft tissue fossilisation. And anyways, finding any fossil is still as cool as it ever was ;)