Beach Stroll Casts Further Doubt on Some Supposed Ediacaran Bilaterian Fossils

air bladder, animals, beach, beachcombing, bilaterian animals, brown algae, Cambrian Explosion, Cambrian News, convergent evolution, Ediacaran biota, Ediacaran fossils, Evolution, evolutionary theory, fauna, flora, fossil-hunting, fossils, hemichordate worms, holdfast, kelp, kelp stipe, Kingdom Protista, Margaretia dorus, Pacific Northwest, paleontology, plants, Precambrian strata, protists, rock hammer, Science (journal), tide-pooling, Western Washington
Over the past few days I’ve been discussing an important paper in the journal Science that reveals supposed Ediacaran bilaterian animal fossils (see here and here, with more to come). Meanwhile, this past weekend, I happened to go on a trip with friends here in Western Washington to do some tide-pooling, beach-combing, and fossil-hunting. We had a fantastic time enjoying the beauty of the inland-coastal Pacific Northwest. During our excursion, I also stumbled on a few things that, with that Science paper in mind, caught my attention. In one instance I found a kelp on the beach with its holdfast still nicely attached. A photo of it is at the top (the holdfast is near the pointy “pick” end of Read More › Source
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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
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Fossil Friday: Chitinozoa — Enigmatic Microfossils from the Paleozoic Era

animal phyla, asexual reproduction, Cambrian Explosion, chitin, Chitinozoa, cocoon, Early Cambrian, egg cases, Evolution, Fossil Friday (series), fossil record, Gotland, great Ordovician biodiversification event, marine ecosystems, microfossils, paleontology, planktonic organisms, protists, SEM image, Silurian Period, single-celled organisms, sudden appearance, Sweden, testate amoebae, transitional fossils
We may now add the mysterious Chitinozoa to this ever-growing list of products of the burst of biological creativity in the Early Cambrian. Source
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Frontiers of ID: Microscopic Ecologies

agriculture, Amish, asteroids, biology, Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less, Cyanobacteria, Darwinists, ecosystems, Elizabeth Pennisi, fungi, Hayabusa-2, human health, Intelligent Design, James Hamblin, lichen, Mars, Medicine, Michael Eisenstein, microbes, microbiome, mites, Mt. St. Helens, Nature (journal), nematode, pathogens, protists, Ryugu, skin, soap, soil, springtails, tardigrades, Yale University
Public health lecturer James Hamblin at Yale decided to go without showers — for five years! Source
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