A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#1

Post by worldvoyageur » Fri, May 01, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life
quantamagazine.org

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#2

Post by wewewedxfgdf » Mon, May 04, 2026, 9:30 AM UTC

The Cambrian period has to be the most interesting period in Earth's history.

A close second is the period where the monkeys started wearing clothes, driving cars and programming computers.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#3

Post by nntwozz » Mon, May 04, 2026, 9:51 AM UTC

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #2

The Cambrian period has to be the most interesting period in Earth's history. A close second is the period where the monkeys started wearing clothes, driving cars and programming computers.

We're apes, friend.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#4

Post by thejohnconway » Mon, May 04, 2026, 10:03 AM UTC

nntwozz wrote: post #3

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #2

The Cambrian period has to be the most interesting period in Earth's history. A close second is the period where the monkeys started wearing clothes, driving cars and programming computers.

We're apes, friend.

Apes are a subset of monkeys.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#5

Post by ourmandave » Mon, May 04, 2026, 10:14 AM UTC

thejohnconway wrote: post #4

nntwozz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're apes, friend.

Apes are a subset of monkeys.

Primates.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#6

Post by metalman » Mon, May 04, 2026, 10:23 AM UTC

ourmandave wrote: post #5

thejohnconway wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apes are a subset of monkeys.

Primates.

Primeats, from many perspectives.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#7

Post by greenbit » Mon, May 04, 2026, 10:27 AM UTC

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #2

The Cambrian period has to be the most interesting period in Earth's history. A close second is the period where the monkeys started wearing clothes, driving cars and programming computers.

Or maybe just before that, when they started wearing digital watches.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#8

Post by dkga » Mon, May 04, 2026, 12:07 PM UTC

What a treasure indeed! I just didn‘t understand why this particular site had so well-preserved soft tissue fossils? I assume it is probably related to the geology of the site during formation of the fossils, and probably the researchers themselves are not quite sure. But I would love to know more, if anyone here understands about this sort of thing.

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#9

Post by cess11 » Mon, May 04, 2026, 12:26 PM UTC

"the first major blossoming of modern biodiversity."

What does "modern" mean in this discourse?

Re: A treasure trove of fossils rewrites the story of early life

#10

Post by tokai » Mon, May 04, 2026, 1:23 PM UTC

cess11 wrote: post #9

"the first major blossoming of modern biodiversity." What does "modern" mean in this discourse?

Life before the Cambrian was weird, and does not fit neatly with the type of live and diversity we see from the Cambrian til now.