Scientists have discovered remarkably preserved traces of dinosaur blood inside 115-million-year-old bones, revealing that delicate biological molecules can survive far longer than previously believed. The breakthrough could transform how researchers study prehistoric animals and even influence the search for ancient life beyond Earth.

An international team led by Curtin University found fossilized red blood cells and chemical evidence of blood molecules in the remains of Aratasaurus museunacionali , a meat-eating theropod dinosaur discovered in northeastern Brazil. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , also include amino acids associated with collagen, an important structural protein found in bones and other connective tissues.

The discovery provides the first definitive chemical confirmation of molecules derived from hemoglobin inside fossilized dinosaur red blood cells.…