#cambrianexplosion — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2026-08-14 · 10:04 UTC

Did poop enable the #evolution of complex animals?
The first animals on Earth emerged about 600mya, and 60 million years later, those simple early animals evolved in wildly different directions, branching out into a diverse menagerie. Known as the #CambrianExplosion, this flurry of rapid evolution produced most of the animal phyla and ecosystems we see around us today.
And it may have taken off because some of those early animals evolved a bizarre new ability: pooping. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/feces-fueled-a-flurry-of-evolution-during-the-cambrian-study-suggests/

#evolution #cambrianexplosion

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2026-08-14 · 10:04 UTC

Did poop enable the #evolution of complex animals?
The first animals on Earth emerged about 600mya, and 60 million years later, those simple early animals evolved in wildly different directions, branching out into a diverse menagerie. Known as the #CambrianExplosion, this flurry of rapid evolution produced most of the animal phyla and ecosystems we see around us today.
And it may have taken off because some of those early animals evolved a bizarre new ability: pooping. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/feces-fueled-a-flurry-of-evolution-during-the-cambrian-study-suggests/

#evolution #cambrianexplosion

grateful wolf @[email protected] · 2026-08-06 · 00:28 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sommesony/117038195352971293

'shit happens' news now… #ShitHappens #CambrianExplosion

#shithappens #cambrianexplosion

grateful wolf @[email protected] · 2026-08-06 · 00:28 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sommesony/117038195352971293

'shit happens' news now… #ShitHappens #CambrianExplosion

#shithappens #cambrianexplosion

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2026-05-07 · 23:04 UTC

#Fossils reveal many complex #animals existed before the #CambrianExplosion
More than 539 million years ago, from the #Ediacaran Period, soft, clarinet-shaped animals anchored themselves to the seafloor on disc-shaped bases, swaying alongside stalked animals resembling worms and baskets. These woodwindlike creatures are just a few of those coming to life from a treasure trove of newly discovered fossils in southwestern #China.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossils-complex-early-animals-diversity
https://archive.ph/sgnuC

#fossils #animals #cambrianexplosion #ediacaran #china

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2026-05-07 · 23:04 UTC

#Fossils reveal many complex #animals existed before the #CambrianExplosion
More than 539 million years ago, from the #Ediacaran Period, soft, clarinet-shaped animals anchored themselves to the seafloor on disc-shaped bases, swaying alongside stalked animals resembling worms and baskets. These woodwindlike creatures are just a few of those coming to life from a treasure trove of newly discovered fossils in southwestern #China.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossils-complex-early-animals-diversity
https://archive.ph/sgnuC

#fossils #animals #cambrianexplosion #ediacaran #china

Lukas VFN 🇪🇺 @[email protected] · 2026-02-05 · 23:02 UTC

Huayuan biota decodes Earth's first mass extinction https://phys.org/news/2026-01-huayuan-biota-decodes-earth-phanerozoic.html

"#CambrianExplosion was cut short around 513 million years ago by the #SinskEvent—with an #extinction rate on par with the planet's 5 most severe mass extinctions. #Biodiversity remained low for 50 million years... While paleontologists have uncovered dozens of #Cambrian soft-bodied fossil sites... no equivalent deposit had been found from the critical post-Sinsk Event interval... That changed over the past 5 years"

#cambrianexplosion #sinskevent #extinction #biodiversity #cambrian

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:54 UTC

related XKCD: https://xkcd.com/3199/

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:54 UTC

related XKCD: https://xkcd.com/3199/

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:53 UTC

The actual Nature paper (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10030-0) is paywalled, but they posted this image to BSky.

source: https://bsky.app/profile/natureportfolio.nature.com/post/3mdlcg64rp22x

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:53 UTC

The actual Nature paper (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10030-0) is paywalled, but they posted this image to BSky.

source: https://bsky.app/profile/natureportfolio.nature.com/post/3mdlcg64rp22x

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:44 UTC

Wild, a rich Cambrian fossil bed has been discovered in China! Many of the species are related to those in the Burgess shale, but 60% are entirely new.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2513485-huge-fossil-bonanza-preserves-512-million-year-old-ecosystem/

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Kelsey Jordahl @[email protected] · 2026-01-30 · 19:44 UTC

Wild, a rich Cambrian fossil bed has been discovered in China! Many of the species are related to those in the Burgess shale, but 60% are entirely new.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2513485-huge-fossil-bonanza-preserves-512-million-year-old-ecosystem/

#fossils #CambrianExplosion

#fossils #cambrianexplosion

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2026-01-08 · 17:37 UTC

#Freelancers like me depend on support to survive and be productive, I much appreciate support for a coffee: ko-fi.com/sfwirth
I am performing #science, #sciencecommunication and #arts, often combining arts/science. My #topicrange is wide, it reaches from titan #isopods over the behaviors of the Mediterranean #Junebeetle and even over an #animated #video about the #Cambrianexplosion towards #phoretic #mites of the #Histiostomatidae. Here H. sp. from rotting #lemonfruits. Please support my work.

#freelancers #science #sciencecommunication #arts #topicrange #isopods

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2026-01-08 · 17:37 UTC

#Freelancers like me depend on support to survive and be productive, I much appreciate support for a coffee: ko-fi.com/sfwirth
I am performing #science, #sciencecommunication and #arts, often combining arts/science. My #topicrange is wide, it reaches from titan #isopods over the behaviors of the Mediterranean #Junebeetle and even over an #animated #video about the #Cambrianexplosion towards #phoretic #mites of the #Histiostomatidae. Here H. sp. from rotting #lemonfruits. Please support my work.

#freelancers #science #sciencecommunication #arts #topicrange #isopods

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2025-12-11 · 03:16 UTC

Please watch my newest #animated #YouTube #video about the #Cambrianexplosion
https://youtu.be/EhUQfMcxUGs?si=5PALKW_J5fkkxOV6

It was a very #shortperiod in Earth's history, began ca. 541 million years ago and lasted only ~13-25 million years, during which giant #evolutionary leaps occurred in #animals. I.a.under influence of increased #oxygen levels, #Bilateria, primeval #Protostomia and #Deuterostomia evolved. We Tetrapoda much later derived from the latter.
©#StefanFWirth 2025

#Pics
©S F.Wirth,#AIassisted own work

#animated #youtube #video #cambrianexplosion #shortperiod #evolutionary

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2025-12-11 · 03:16 UTC

Please watch my newest #animated #YouTube #video about the #Cambrianexplosion
https://youtu.be/EhUQfMcxUGs?si=5PALKW_J5fkkxOV6

It was a very #shortperiod in Earth's history, began ca. 541 million years ago and lasted only ~13-25 million years, during which giant #evolutionary leaps occurred in #animals. I.a.under influence of increased #oxygen levels, #Bilateria, primeval #Protostomia and #Deuterostomia evolved. We Tetrapoda much later derived from the latter.
©#StefanFWirth 2025

#Pics
©S F.Wirth,#AIassisted own work

#animated #youtube #video #cambrianexplosion #shortperiod #evolutionary

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2025-12-05 · 15:54 UTC

#Chitonida (#Mollusca) exist since the #Cambrian. Bodies are covered with #calcareous #plates, flexibly connected. Most feed on vegetation cover. The #CambrianExplosion made based i.a. on #oxygen significant leaps in #animalevolution. Y. Zhang et al. (2025) assume a change in Earth's orbit altering #solarradiation, leading to land #weathering and #nutrients flow to the sea. Algae thrived and produced much oxygen.
© #StefanFWirth 2025

Ref
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118689

#Pics
#AIassisted, © S.F.Wirth

#chitonida #mollusca #cambrian #calcareous #plates #cambrianexplosion

Stefan F. Wirth @[email protected] · 2025-12-05 · 15:54 UTC

#Chitonida (#Mollusca) exist since the #Cambrian. Bodies are covered with #calcareous #plates, flexibly connected. Most feed on vegetation cover. The #CambrianExplosion made based i.a. on #oxygen significant leaps in #animalevolution. Y. Zhang et al. (2025) assume a change in Earth's orbit altering #solarradiation, leading to land #weathering and #nutrients flow to the sea. Algae thrived and produced much oxygen.
© #StefanFWirth 2025

Ref
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL118689

#Pics
#AIassisted, © S.F.Wirth

#chitonida #mollusca #cambrian #calcareous #plates #cambrianexplosion

Jitse Niesen @[email protected] · 2024-04-19 · 11:01 UTC

Yesterday's mathematical biology seminar saw my colleague Richard Mann talk on "Covariant evolutionary processes: a theory of the Cambrian explosion and other radiations".

The Cambrian explosion is the appearance of many different animal species about 500 million years ago (see e.g. the Wikipedia article for background). The idea of the talk is that it was not such a special event. We don't need
external environmental factors to explain it. Instead, fairly standard birth-and-death stochastic processes show similar explosions once you take survivorship bias into account. Loosely speaking, the fact that we are here means that there must have been an explosion of species in the past. Not my area of expertise at all but very interesting.

#paleontology #cambrian #CambrianExplosion #bias #SurvivorshipBias #StochasticProcesses

#stochasticprocesses #survivorshipbias #bias #cambrianexplosion #cambrian #paleontology