1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal bamb here with another classic episode from our 3 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: archives featuring former host Christian Sagar. This one is so 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: classic that it's prehistoric. How do we know what dinosaurs 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: looked like? Hey? I'm Christian Sagar and this is brain Stuff. 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: Dinosaurs are super old and they are also super popular. 7 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: We see them in movies, museums, children's toys, cartoons and more. 8 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: But how do we know what they actually looked like? 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: It all comes down to fossils. Think of reconstructing a 10 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: dinosaur's appearance like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The fossils 11 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: are the pieces on the edge of the puzzle, but 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: most of the other pieces are missing. So while they 13 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: don't tell us everything, fossils are the best starting point 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: for figuring out a dinosaurs appearance. The way the bones 15 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: fit together can give us a basic understanding of a 16 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: dinosaur's shape and paw sture. We can learn a lot 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: from the teeth to Flat leaf shaped teeth indicate herbivores, 18 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: while sharp pointed teeth suggests a carnivore. Cavities in the 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: skull can help us figure out how well a dinosaur 20 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: could see or hear. We also use CT scans to 21 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: build three D images of the skeletons. From there, we 22 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: can add virtual layers of tissue, muscle and skin. Under 23 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: very rare conditions, a dinosaurs soft tissue can fossilize two 24 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: in paleontologists Tyler License found in Edmonton Soaurus in North Dakota. 25 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: The skin and muscle tissue of its fossil remained intact. 26 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: CT scans of the body have revealed a treasure trove 27 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: of new information about dinosaurs. And here's the weirdest thing. 28 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: Dinosaurs weren't all scaly creatures like crocodiles or Godzilla. Some 29 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: had weird filaments all over their bodies, which dinosaur expert 30 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: Brian Swittek calls dino fuzz and some dinosaurs even had feathers. 31 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: We can tell by quill barb marks little bumps where 32 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: feathers connect to bone. These marks aren't just one or 33 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: two obscure species either. We're talking about famous dinos like velociraptors. 34 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: It turns out quite a few dinosaurs had these feathers, 35 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 1: or technically something like feathers. Not every paleontologist is comfortable 36 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: with the name preferring to describe these markings as into 37 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: gumentary structures or proto feathers instead. But these feathers and 38 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: feather like structures may have been pretty colorful too. In 39 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: scientists analyzed a micro raptor fossil with a scanning electron 40 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: microscope and found evidence of melanosomes. These are the organelles 41 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 1: inside a cell that store melanin or pigment. Different types 42 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: of melanosomes store different colors. This is the same stuff 43 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: that determines your hair color. The researchers found that this 44 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: microraptor had an irridescent glossy coat. As scientists look for 45 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: more fossilized melanisomes, they're reconstructing the appearance of Earth's ancient 46 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: dinosaurs with increased and impressive accuracy. Not a bad job 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: considering they're literally working with a pile of bones. Today's 48 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: episode was written by Ben Bolan and produced by Tyler Clang. 49 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How 50 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other 51 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: topics that you can really dig into, visit our home planet, 52 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com. Plus for more podcasts for 53 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the iHeart radio, app, Apple podcasts, 54 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.