What Dr Zussman and his colleagues have managed to do is break the internal bonds in the protein molecules by mixing them with a chemical called beta-mercaptoethanol.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

The molecules of this protein are more or less globular, and are held in that shape by internal cross-links between different parts of the amino-acid chain of which the protein is composed.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

They are, in effect, internal viruses unable to leave a cell because they lack the protein coats that allow real viruses to survive in the outside world and attach themselves to new host cells, but contributing nothing to the welfare of the cells they inhabit.

ECONOMIST: The first complete DNA sequence of an animal is now in the bag

By bombarding the fossils with an infrared synchrotron beam a noninvasive way of analyzing a material's internal chemistry the scientists said they detected molecular traces of an organic protein inside the mineralized bones.

WSJ: Dinosaur Embryos Point to Rapid Growth