Scientists startled by T-rex blood

In the early nineties, researchers from Montana State University made a startling discovery. Inspecting a piece of T. rex bone under a microscope, they could hardly believe their eyes—they could see dinosaur red blood cells! This discovery prompted lead scientist, Dr Mary Schweitzer, to say: 'It was exactly like looking at a slice of modern bone. But, of course, I couldn't believe it. I said to the lab technician: "The bones, after all, are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long?"' In a Discover magazine article, Dr Schweitzer explained further her surprise, 'If you take a blood sample and you stick it on a shelf, you have nothing recognizable in about a week. So why would there be anything left in dinosaurs?' Such a response is understandable, considering that she thinks dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. But surely such data suggest it wasn't that long ago?