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"He cried out and came running."
Jochen Broc k s a scientist at the National University of Australia, described to the BBC the wonder of a researcher in his laboratory when he saw something no one had ever seen.
Nur Gueneli a Ph.D. student discovered the natural color that scientists in Australia believe has survived the longest on the planet.
in the rocks of 1,100 million years of antiquity found under the Sahara Desert.
When diluted, the pigment has a color pink or bright pink "a fluo pink"
But at high levels of concentration, the color may range from blood red to dark purple
"dinosaur skin"
"At first, I thought the sample was contaminated," he confessed. Brocks at the BBC.
"It's amazing that something with an organic color has survived so long."
" Imagine that you could find the skin of a dinosaur fossil with its original color for example green or blue.It is the kind of discovery we made. "
" We are talking about real molecules, the world's oldest colored molecules. "
Extinct Ocean
The rocks were found about ten years ago which drilled hundreds of meters deep in the Taoudeni basin in Mauritania in West Africa.
The pigment is 500 000 years older than the other discoveries previously.
the origin of the color?
Gueneli noted that the molecules "are fossils of chlorophyll produced by cyanobacteria organisms that have carried out photosynthesis and have lived in an already extinct ocean."
Brocks explained to the BBC "Cyanobacteria dominated the base of the food chain a billion years ago and this explains why there were still no animals at this time. time."
Cyanobacteria did not provide the necessary nutrients for development "Although algae are microscopic, they are a thousand times larger than cyanobacteria and are a much richer food source." the scientist of the Department of Earth Studies of the National University of Australia
"The oceans of cyanobacteria began to disappear about 650 million years ago, when algae began to provide the energy necessary for the evolution of complex ecosystems. "
" These ecosystems have allowed larger animals, including humans, to survive on Earth. "
L & # 39; study was published in the journal of the United States Academy of Sciences, ] Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences or NAPA
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