Re: Black Feather Colour in Archaeopteryx

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

On 10 November 2011 02:43, Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
> As reported in New Scientist:
>
> [Ryan] Carney and colleagues used scanning electron microscopy and 
> energy-dispersive X-ray
> analyses to detect the melanosomes [of an Archaeopteryx feather], then 
> compared this data to
> similar feathers in a database of 87 modern bird species. The feather, he 
> says, was most probably
> black. While the full colour pattern of Archaeopteryx has yet to be 
> uncovered, Carney noted that
> melanosomes on the black feather have structural properties which may have 
> strengthened the
> feathers for the demands of flight. The miniscule structures which hide the 
> secrets of prehistoric
> colour were not just for show.
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21146-archaeopteryx-was-robed-in-black.html

Well, this is ASTONISHING!  New Scientist mis-spelled "minuscule"!

-- Mike.