TPO 24 Integrated essay

The reading and the lecture are both about the discovery of a fossil of a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). The author presents three theories about the materials found in the T.rex. The lecturer disputes the claims made in the article. His position is that the discoveries inside the T.rex fossils may not seem what the scientists think.

According to the reading, the leg bone examination appeared that there are several branches of channels inside the T.rex's leg, defined as hollows in bones. The article mentions that the materials inside hollows may exhibit the remains of the actual blood vessels. This specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. He claims that the hollow is not necessary the indication that it was the blood vessels; it may represent the existence of the bacteria. Additionally, he points out that after T.rex die out, the bacteria may remain in those hollows, which the scientists think was the T.rex's blood vessels.

Secondly, the author suggests that the microscopic findings of the internal bones of T.rex revealed the existence of the spheres that might be the remains of the red blood cells. In the article, it is said that scientists discovered that those spheres contained iron, which is a crucial element of the blood cells. In contrast, the lecturer's stance is that these materials may be identical to the same materials found on the fossils after the animals' death. He goes on to say that spheres probably had some minerals that contain iron that is misleading the experts about the iron in the red blood cells.

Finally, the author posits that expert research also found that there is collagen in the T.rex fossils. The lecturer, however, asserts that scientists have never found collagen in hundred-thousand-year-old fossils before, so the 70 million years is just too impossible to be found. He notes that collagen is found in the human skin, which is perished not too long ago.