A 500-million-year-old find reveals previously unknown features of the sea creatures responsible for some of palaeontology’s most recognisable fossils.
- Professor of Earth Sciences, University of New England
Researchers have found a new way by which the brains of ancient animals can be preserved.
Looking a bit like enlarged woodlice, ancient trilobites crawled along the seabed and had an exoskeleton made of calcite — nature’s version of a suit of armour.
Our study on weird ancient marine animals called radiodonts supports the idea that vision played a crucial role during the Cambrian Explosion, a rapid burst of evolution about 500 million years ago.
There is evidence to show this monster of the ancient sea was a cannibal, feeding on its own kind.
Modern animals took over our planet much more quickly than previously thought. This has both welcome and disturbing implications for the future of life on our rapidly changing planet
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