(Image: E.R. Degginger/SPL)
Call it extraterrestrial bling. Fossilised sea creatures have been found that coated themselves in tiny diamonds created in the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs.
The fossils were discovered by a team led by Michael Kaminski, a geologist at University College London. They went to the Umbria-Marche basin of eastern Italy in search of the fossilised remains of deep-ocean creatures called agglutinated foraminifera. These amoeba-like single-celled organisms build protective “tests” around themselves by sticking together sediment grains from the sea floor. Curiously, they seem to prefer heavy grains, presumably to help them sink to the bottom…
