Fossil Friday: An Ediacaran Animal with a Question Mark

A. Yu Ivantsov, animals, dickinsoniids, Ediacaran biota, Epibaion, Evolution, Evolution & Development, flatworms, Fossil Friday (series), IFLScience, jello, microbial mats, multicellular animal, muscles, nervous system, Nilpena Ediacara National Park, outback, paleontology, placozoan, Precambrian, protists, Quaestio simpsonorum, Roomba, sandstone, South Australia, trace fossils, Tribrachidium
To claim that such undefinable blobs in sandstone represent fossils of the oldest motile animals is massively overselling the evidence to say the least. Source
Read More

“Lying on the Internet”? Debunking Dave Farina on Stephen Meyer

acritarchs, Avalon Assemblage, bilaterians, body plans, Cambrian Explosion, Carl Zimmer, Caveasphaera, China, Cladonia chlorophaea, Cloudina, cnidarians, Darwin's Doubt, Dave Farina, demosponges, Dickinsonia, Doushantuo fossils, embryos, Eumetazoa, Evolution, fossils, Gregory Retallack, Haootia quadriformis, Helicoforamina, homology, Ikaria, Intelligent Design, Internet, Joe Botting, Kimberella, Lantianella, Megasphaera, Metazoa, microfossils, Nama Assemblage, Namacalathus, New York Times, paleontology, Precambrian animals, Professor Dave, Spiralicellula, sponges, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, straw man, Tribrachidium, Vernanimalcula, White Sea assemblage, Xiuningella, Yilingia, YouTubers
A lot of nonsense gets published in peer-reviewed journals and it needs expertise to separate the wheat from the chaff. Farina lacks any expertise to do this. Source
Read More

Smithsonian Glosses Over the Cambrian Explosion

animals, Anomalocaris, behaviors, brains, Burgess Shale, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, Canada, cell types, Charles Darwin, Charnia, China, Darwin's Doubt, Dickinsonia, Ediacarans, Evolution, Fossil Hall, fossil record, Hallucigenia, Intelligent Design, mollusks, National Museum of Natural History, Opabinia, organs, oxygen, paleontology, Pikaia, Smithsonian Institution, Spriggina, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Meyer, Thomas Woodward, tissue types, Tribrachidium, trilobites, Wiwaxia
The nation’s museum cannot ignore the collection of fossils Walcott sent them from the Burgess Shale. But can they explain them away? Source
Read More

Evans et al. (2021): All Four Examples Debunked

animals, axial polarity, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, circular reasoning, Darwin’s House of Cards, Dickinsonia, Ediacaran fossils, Ediacaran organisms, Ediacaran specialists, Eukaryonta, Evans et al. (2021), Evolution, evolutionary biology, Facebook, Gregory Retallack, Ikaria, La La Land, lichen, marine protozoans, Mary Droser, muscles, nervous system, paleontology, Precambrian House of Cards Series, Tom Bethell, Tree of Life, Tribrachidium, trilobozoans, University of Oregon
Evans et al. (2021) seem to have been well aware of the circular reasoning in their argument. Source
Read More