PALAEONTOLOGY[online]

Tag: Jennifer Anné

Jennifer ‘Indy’ Anné is a PhD student at the University of Manchester, UK, working on the chemistry of bone healing and repair through synchrotron analysis. She has been playing with diseased and broken archosaurs since her years as an undergraduate, starting with macro descriptions and moving on to chemistry. Jenn caught the palaeo-bug when she was two and, like many palaeontologists, has not moved past the playing-with-dinosaurs phase.

Contact Details:

Jennifer Anné, University of Manchester, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.

by Jennifer Anné*1 Introduction Palaeopathology is the study of the disease and repair of ancient life — most commonly in bone. First coined for the study of diseases in Egyptian mummies, the term was adopted to cover fossil material in 1917 by the first dinosaur doctor, Roy L. Moodie, but has become popular only in recent decades. It is surprising that the study of palaeopathology in the fossil record took so long to catch on in palaeontology. Part of the problem lies with difficulty in getting hold of specimens or accessing the techniques and equipment needed for sensitive analysis. But even if all those problems have been overcome, diagnosing a fossil pathology beyond a vague description brings its own challenges. Difficulties with diagnosing Palaeopathologies may be fairly easy for