115-million-year-old dinosaur red blood cells found in Brazil

An international team has discovered the first unequivocal evidence of fossilized red blood cells in the bones of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur found in Brazil. The cells, from a theropod called Aratasaurus museonationali, contain preserved heme, a hemoglobin component, proving the existence of fossilized blood traces. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, challenges assumptions about molecular survival over long periods. Researchers believe rapid burial in a low-oxygen environment and mineralization with hausmannite helped preserve the cells. The findings could have implications for astrobiology and the search for ancient life in the cosmos.