Cambrian explosion

Time Magazine, December 4, 1995 “Evolution’s Big Bang”: What I like to ask my biologist friends is, How fast can evolution get before they start feeling uncomfortable?” – Samuel Bowring [Geologist], M.I.T (p. 74) Over 20 years now. So long ago, one had forgotten… Too many “just keep moving, folks, nothing to see here,” moments have intervened. And then there were the Ediacaran jellyfish, who are much older but not precursors and the sophisticated Cambrian eyes. Keep moving, folks, keep moving… Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Books > Science & Math > Evolution > Organic #3 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Theology > Creationism #3 in Books > Science Read More ›

Waynesburg University (Pennsylvania) biology prof Wayne Rossiter, author of In the Shadow of Oz, offers thoughts on Saturday’s debate in Toronto: Lamoureux’s role in the debate was largely to offer a robotic rolodex of tired cliché’s (e.g., “I find the evidence for evolution overwhelming, there is no debate on that,” and “biology only makes sense in light of evolution”). Among them was the classic, “show me one tooth in the Cambrian, and we’ll turn all the science upside-down.” Of course, we have good reason to doubt that he would be true to his ultimatum. After all, we didn’t think evolution could account for the massive diversification of animal life seen in a 5-8 million year sliver of the Cambrian period, Read More ›

My verdict: The debate would have been a better one without Krauss, who generally behaved like a boor, and who engaged in deliberate dishonesty (see below). Meyer and Lamoureux had a lively but amicable exchange of views. Meyer displayed admirable fortitude in soldiering on, even though he had a splitting headache. Introduction Host Karen Stiller introduces the debate, which is sponsored by Wycliffe College, in partnership with Faith Today, Power to Change, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and the Network of Christian Scholars. Professor Lawrence Krauss will speak first, followed by Dr. Stephen Meyer and finally, Dr. Denis Lamoureux. Professor Lawrence Krauss’s talk Professor Krauss begins by announcing that he wants to clear up a misconception. 3:52 Krauss declares: “The Discovery Read More ›

If so, ethologist Patrick Bateson is onto something. But how would we know? From ScienceDaily: Most fossils preserve the physical remains of organisms and their structure; however, geologists and paleobiologists recently found fossils that show the behaviors of predators preserved as traces in ancient sediments. Thus, fossils from southeast Missouri are helping scientists unlock clues about the behaviors of these predators and their interactions with their prey. Evidence shows that these ancient organisms were behaviorally sophisticated, tailoring their attacks for effectiveness. Tracks from the site showed that the predators attacked from above, moving alongside to use their many legs for more effective grappling of their prey. Further, predators preferentially selected smaller prey, indicating that they attacked their food rather than Read More ›

Except for losses. From Discovery: A fossil of a 520-million-year-old animal is so well preserved that its individual nerve fibers are still visible, according to a new study on the crustacean-like creature that once lived in southern China. The fossil represents the oldest and most detailed central nervous system ever found, reports the study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More. The animal is a Cambrian life form, Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis, considered “an early ancestor of modern insects, spiders and crustaceans,” and its nerve chord is “similar to the spinal cord that we and many other organisms have today. Bead-like ganglia, or bundles of nerve cells, controlled the animal’s single pair of walking legs.” Read More ›

From Sean Pitman (2016): Late last year there was an interesting debate on Premier Christian Radio, “Unbelievable” with Justin Brierley between Stephen Meyer and Charles Marshall over Meyer’s latest book,Darwin’s Doubt. Marshall, a UC Berkeley paleontologist, had published a review of the book in the journal Science a few months earlier and this was Meyer’s chance to respond to Marshall’s less than positive critique. For those interested, the radio debate is available by clicking on the following: (Link) What follows here is my own summery, followed by my own personal take, on the debate: More. See also: Listener’s guide and video series on the book Follow UD News at Twitter!

Nature and Scientific American think we are beginning to find out: Biologists have argued for decades over what ignited this evolutionary burst. Some think that a steep rise in oxygen sparked the change, whereas others say that it sprang from the development of some key evolutionary innovation, such as vision. The precise cause has remained elusive, in part because so little is known about the physical and chemical environment at that time. But over the past several years, discoveries have begun to yield some tantalizing clues about the end of the Ediacaran. Evidence gathered from the Namibian reefs and other sites suggests that earlier theories were overly simplistic — that the Cambrian explosion actually emerged out of a complex interplay Read More ›

From ScienceDaily: Oxygen is crucial for the existence of animals on Earth. But, an increase in oxygen did not apparently lead to the rise of the first animals. New research shows that 1.4 billion years ago there was enough oxygen for animals — and yet over 800 million years went by before the first animals appeared on Earth. Animals evolved by about 600 million years ago, which was late in Earth’s history. The late evolution of animals, and the fact that oxygen is central for animal respiration, has led to the widely promoted idea that animal evolution corresponded with a late a rise in atmospheric oxygen concentrations. “But sufficient oxygen in itself does not seem to be enough for animals Read More ›

Information drives the development of life. But what is the source of that information? Could it have been produced by an unguided Darwinian process? Or did it require intelligent design? The Information Enigma is a fascinating 21-minute documentary that probes the mystery of biological information, the challenge it poses to orthodox Darwinian theory, and the reason it points to intelligent design. The video features molecular biologist Douglas Axe and Stephen Meyer, author of the books Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt.

The reviewers, one gathers, didn’t like the book much of course. Such types never like anything that busts hell out of the Jesus for Darwin racket. You’d have to pay to read what reviewers Bishop and O’Connor say so, for free, author Steve Meyer responds at Evolution News & Views: It’s worth noting that none of the reviews of Darwin’s Doubt or Signature in the Cell have refuted (and few have even challenged) either of the two key empirical premises in my arguments for intelligent design as a best explanation — as, indeed, Bishop and O’Connor themselves have not done. For obvious reasons, critics have not disputed my claim that intelligent agents have demonstrated the power to produce functional information Read More ›

Download here. Steve Meyer’s Darwin’s Doubt has been a depth marker of sorts. Money-losing Barnes & Noble and private misshelvers tried hard to keep the Cambrian explosion and other information-rich scenes from the history of life stuck in the awful, disgusting goo of the religion-and-science swamp. Yet it stayed near the top in paleontology for many months, and has garnered 700 reviews (as of about 12:25 EST). The average rating of 4.5 stars suggests that Darwin trolls are outnumbered by people who want serious answers to serious questions: — Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Books > Science & Math > Evolution > Organic #4 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Read More ›

From the Economist: In the fourth of our series of articles on scientific mysteries we ask why, a mere 542m years ago, animal life suddenly took off Oh, we mean Steve Meyer, author of Darwin’s Doubt, about the Cambrian explosion of life forms over half a billion years ago. Just look at how Darwin’s Econo followers handle the question: There is, however, one other thought—that the Cambrian explosion is not the fundamental mystery it seems to be. The true mystery, rather, is the Ediacaran, whose animals really did appear out of nowhere, and then vanished for reasons unknown before the Cambrian got going. The fossil record is full of sudden cast changes like this. They are known as mass extinctions. … Read More ›

Here’s this snippet from a Phys.Org entry. The most remarkable part of it is that they link “cell-type” evolution to the repression of genes, making one wonder if all the necessary genes needed for all of life was somehow present in an original genome. Obviously there are problems with this thesis in terms of genome length and type, bacterial genomes being ciruclar, while animals generally have discrete chromosomes, but, it’s entirely possible that multi-cellular life represents a complete break with bacteria, and that what we’re seeing here is the ultimate in “front-loading,” where everything is in place, yet, per Behe’s first law of adaptation, we see “loss of function” leading to novelties. And, it should be a little troubling, if Read More ›

Small pre-Cambrian oxygen jump in atmosphere helped enable animals take first breaths Not big ones? Can someone just make a list of pop science media assumptions? Would save trouble. Maybe we could mechanize it. Here is one: We must always be looking for a “small” event that kickstarted life or some advance in life. ScienceDaily: If oxygen was a driver of the early evolution of animals, only a slight bump in oxygen levels facilitated it, according to a multi-institutional research team that includes a Virginia Tech geoscientist. The discovery, published in the journal Nature, calls into question the long held theory that a dramatic change in oxygen levels might have been responsible for the appearance of complicated life forms like Read More ›

Readers may remember Misshelver and her new man, who take it upon themselves to move design-related science books to the “religion” section, inconveniencing staff and customers alike. Well. At Barnes and Noble, where misshelving Steve Meyer’s Darwin’s Doubt is corporate policy (amid a continuing financial slump), a friend write to complain, I was at a Barnes & Noble in my neighborhood today and noticed that they are still shelving Meyer’s book in the Christian section of the store. It wouldn’t be so bad except when we consider all the ideological rubbish that inhabits the science section, turning it into some kind of naturalist fantasyland. Have a look at today’s Top 10 in evolution. At this point, when we are learning Read More ›