Glutamic acid is a natural constituent of many fermented or aged foods, including soy sauce, fermented bean paste, and cheese, and is also a component of hydrolyzed protein such as yeast extract. The sodium salt of glutamic acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is a widely used additive in the food industry.
Paleontologistâs estimate that only a small percentage of the dinosaurs that ever lived have been or will be found as fossils, because their bodies simply decayed. The word fossil comes from the Latin word fossils, which means, âdug upâ. Most fossils are excavated from sedimentary rock layers. Sedimentary rock is rock that has formed from materials like sand, mud, and small pieces of rock. Over long periods of time, these small pieces of debris are squeezed and are buried under more and more layers of sediment that piles up on top of it.
Some bones are obvious, like the Pleistocene mammoth skull shown below. But most fossil bones are smaller or are fragments and are not as easily recognized. In fact, many types of fossils, such as corals and cephalopods are commonly misidentified as bone.Most fossil bones have texture (see below right) that are porous or fibrous and have canals just like modern bones when examined closely, which is unlike other types of fossils.The location in which a fossil was found may also be a clue to the likelihood that it is actually a fossil bone.any fossils are misidentified as bones by amateur collectors, because they have a horn or bone-like shape. Many common fossils have shapes that can look very bone-like. In addition, some naturally occuring rocks look like bones (rocks that are mistaken for fossils are called pseudofossils) .