A stunner of an Archaeopteryx fossil preserves SO MUCH soft tissue, including scales on its toe pads and a group of flight feathers never seen before in Archaeopteryx. Called tertials, they lie between the elbow and the body, and play a key flight role in modern birds.
In my latest for CNN, lead study author and paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor explains how these feathers confirm a longheld hypothesis that Archaeopteryx was capable of powered flight.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/science/archaeopteryx-fossil-includes-feathers
