[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6125\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EDinosaur fossils and super-strength X-rays could reveal why birds fly\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe link between dinosaurs and birds has fascinated scientists for decades but the answer remains elusive. Now, modern imaging techniques are opening up a new world of virtual palaeontology and allowing scientists to take a fresh approach to the question of how dinosaurs evolved into birds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Peter Falkingham from the Royal Veterinary College, London, and Brown University, US, has been investigating dinosaur and bird locomotion by looking at fossilised dinosaur footprints and comparing them to footprints and X-rays of modern birds moving.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Fossil footprints offer the only direct record of locomotion in the fossil record. So our idea was to look at the footprint and see if we can back calculate the way the limb was moving and compare that through time,\u2019 he said.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018My hopes are that eventually palaeontology will lead to \u2026 a comprehensive computer-generated palaeoworld.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Fabien Knoll, University of Manchester, UK\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo get data from modern birds, Dr Falkingham, who leads the TRACKEVOL project, has been getting guinea fowl to run along a specific track between two X-ray beams, a process known as XROMM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo fluoroscope X-ray machines are positioned so that their beams cross. Then the bird runs along a track until it hits the point where the beams overlap. Here X-ray video is recorded, which allows researchers to see three dimensional movements of the foot that would otherwise be hidden by the sediment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy looking at those motions, and at the substrate along which the bird is running and the impression that is left, scientists can hypothesise how dinosaurs might have moved.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019ve been using a combination of X-ray techniques and computer simulations so that we can record the bird\u2019s foot as a bird is making a footprint,\u2019 said Dr Falkingham. \u2018And then we can use simulation to model what the soil is doing around the foot as the foot plunges into it. We can then try to link specific motions and features of the modern bird track with 200 million-year-old dinosaur tracks.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe fossilised footprints that Dr Falkingham and his team study are not like the impressions that a person might leave in the sand as they walk along the beach.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The kinds of footprints that we are looking at are very, very different,\u2019 he explained. \u2018So if you can imagine quite deep mud, you sink through it and the mud closes up above your foot and then you extract your foot again. This records a lot more motion of the foot, but results in a really complex problem to untangle.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EComputer simulations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team input the data from the X-rays and from the fossil footprints into a computer simulation, which gives us a real-life idea of how dinosaurs might have moved and the link to motion in birds. It\u0027s a crucial step towards working out why birds evolved flight.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Birds have evolved from dinosaurs, and birds and dinosaurs differ in a number of ways,\u2019 said Dr Falkingham. \u2018Particularly we\u2019re interested in the way that theropod dinosaurs (from which birds descend) differ from birds in their hind limbs.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe simulation that the team have created is also adding to knowledge of how today\u0027s birds move. \u0027In trying to study dinosaurs we discovered that no one really knows how birds move over compliant terrain so we\u2019re feeding back into the biology side,\u0027 said Dr Falkingham.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe says the next step for the research is to vary the motion. \u0027Essentially the simulation is a way of testing hypotheses of motion. We think dinosaurs moved this way, if we put that into a simulation, does that produce virtual tracks that look like the fossil tracks that we find?\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScientists are also using information from prehistoric fossilised bird samples to create computer simulations and study how flight evolved in birds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Fabien Knoll from the University of Manchester, UK, leads the AVATAR project, which began in September 2014 and aims to study the evolution of avian flight using both fossils and imaging technology. He uses computer modelling and synchrotron-based imaging in order to get the most accurate picture possible of what the fossilised birds would have looked like when they were alive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESynchrotron facilities produce a type of intense, high-energy electromagnetic radiation, billions of times more brilliant than a hospital X-ray source. The beam is so strong that researchers can even tell how pigmented a fossil might have been.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We particularly use X-ray from synchrotron radiation sources. This is not only for 3D reconstructions but also the recognition of original pigments in fossils,\u2019 said Dr Knoll. \u2018This is a field of research that is still in its infancy.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Knoll builds virtual models and computer simulations based on the information that he collects about the pigmentation, the skeleton and the muscle structure of the birds from the X-rays of the fossils.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E3D models\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018In terms of the models we build, they are generic musculoskeletal models and we can simulate anything,\u2019 he said. \u2018It is now possible to achieve highly detailed musculoskeletal models that can be used to explore the locomotor abilities of both extant and extinct animals. The skeletal elements can be articulated in 3D and the musculature can be reconstructed in 3D.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Knoll, who plans to make videos of these models later in the project, says the new imaging and simulation techniques are changing palaeontology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Computer-aided investigation of fossils has transfigured our understanding of extinct organisms,\u2019 he said. \u2018Key to unravelling the origins of bird flight is the possibility to bring fossil birds and their feathered ancestors to life via various state-of-the-art techniques.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018My hopes are, therefore, that eventually palaeontology will lead to the virtual reconstruction of not only individual plants or animals but also their environment: a comprehensive computer-generated palaeoworld.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-qyhcvfc54hhzlsrg97bftug010aux4lfcs2s3emky2i\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-QYhCvfc54hHZlsRg97BfTug010aux4lfCS2s3EmKY2I\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]