British dinosaur specialist Prof Phil Manning made that comment in a keynote address on the opening day of the Museums Aotearoa conference in Dunedin yesterday.
Addressing about 240 delegates from throughout New Zealand, Prof Manning, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester, said synchrotrons generated X-ray light greatly brighter than that of the sun.
And this light was the key to new imaging techniques that were producing a wave of discoveries about hidden images, ''chemical ghosts'' and other hitherto unexplored scientific insights from artefacts, including dinosaur bones.
One of the new insights was into the remarkable healing powers shown by ancient dinosaurs, involving major bone injuries humans would be unlikely to survive without medical treatment.
Prof Manning and Manchester University researchers recently used this new technique to analyse bone healing powers in a predatory dinosaur which roamed the earth 150 million years ago.
He noted dinosaurs had the power to attract young people to science.
Also commenting in an interview, Prof Manning praised work being done at Otago Museum, the main host of the national museum conference, to inspire people of all ages through the museum science centre.
Prof Manning emphasised the crucial role museums could play in communicating scientific research to a wider audience.
And he emphasised the importance of scientists genuinely embracing public outreach, adding that communicating science to the public was too important to be delegated to laboratory juniors while more senior scientists did other things.
Prof Manning gave his address at the Otakou Marae yesterday morning.
The conference, which ends today, has attracted a record number of participants for a Museums Aotearoa gathering and is focusing on the theme ''communicating culture''.
