Most grade school kids know that they can count tree rings to learn how long they lived. Biologists and forensic scientists count cementum rings (these microscopic structures encircle a tooth's root and vary in shade and thickness by season) in teeth for the same reason.
Now, scientists have adapted the technique — but with high-powered X-ray imaging technology — and applied it to fossils hundreds of millions of years old. This method not only can pinpoint how long the fossilized creature lived, but also sheds some light on how they grew and developed, according to a report in Science Advances.
Revolutionizing Fossil Analysis with X-Ray Imaging
The concept arose almost by chance when Ian Corfe was probing shrew teeth at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France (synchrotrons are high-powered instruments that use X-ray beams).
