Think 50,000 yr wood is old? What about the ink??

[PR_Princess]

After 150m years as a fossil, Belemnotheutis antiquus takes up its pen

The fossil record has been rewritten — in 150-million-year-old squid ink. The discovery of the perfectly preserved ink sac of a the inch-long cephalopod, a type of squid, has astonished palaeontologists.

The squid came from a site near Christian Malford in Wiltshire that is reknowned for producing extremely well-preserved fossils, but this is believed to the first time squid ink has been reconstituted.

To mark the occasion the scientists used the squid's own ink to draw a picture of it and wrote the specimen's Latin name, Belemnotheutis antiquus. Before it could be used, the pitch-black ink had to be returned to liquid form with a solution of ammonia.


More here

 

[rjwolfe3]

That's cool!

 

[altaciii]

Ok, Dawn, I have a feeling that Ed is trying to find a way to get some and market it on exoticblanks. It is, however, an interesting artical. Thanks for sharing.
Alex

 

[Russianwolf]

How much per bottle? :tongue:

 

[NewLondon88]

Gee .. when I saw your post and '50,000 yrs old' I thought it was
another Birthday message for Keith..:tongue:

(Have a good one, Keith..)

 

[Rollerbob]

How much per bottle? :tongue:

ONE MIIILLLIIIOOONN DOLLARS!:biggrin:

 

[rjwolfe3]

Gee .. when I saw your post and '50,000 yrs old' I thought it was
another Birthday message for Keith.

That's funny, but I thought she was talking about Ed!

 

[mbroberg]

Kinda crappy looking pen he is using for such a rare ( the rarest) ink:at-wits-end:

 

[ed4copies]

That's funny, but I thought she was talking about Ed!

CAREFUL there, Youngun!!!

That there squid was one of my pets, we're pretty close!!!

Don't know WHY they had to dig em up!!

 

[VisExp]

Gee .. when I saw your post and '50,000 yrs old' I thought it was
another Birthday message for Keith..:tongue:

(Have a good one, Keith..)

Et tu, Brute :biggrin:

 

[Daniel]

Imagine being the person asked to draw with the Ink. "O.K. this took 150 million years to make, it's all we got, and we want an entire portrait out of it... watch your sleeve, awe damn.... okay so a small portrait...

 

[ed4copies]

Imagine being the person asked to draw with the Ink. "O.K. this took 150 million years to make, it's all we got, and we want an entire portrait out of it... watch your sleeve, awe damn.... okay so a small portrait...

Nice, Daniel!

 

[DCBluesman]

Imagine being the person asked to draw with the Ink. "O.K. this took 150 million years to make, it's all we got, and we want an entire portrait out of it... watch your sleeve, awe damn.... okay so a small portrait...

I wonder why the artist had to draw such a large picture of a creature that's only 1" long. What a waste of (valuable and scarce) ink!