University of Alberta researchers have uncovered physical proof that animals existed 585 million years ago, 30 million years earlier than all previous established records show.
The discovery was made U of A geologists Ernesto Pecoits and Natalie Aubet in Uruguay. They found fossilized tracks of a centimetre long, slug-like animal left behind 585 million years ago in a silty sediment.
Along with other U of A researchers, the team determined that the tracks were made by a primitive animal called a bilaterian, which is distinguished from other non-animal, simple life forms by its symmetry-its topside is distinguishable from its bottom side-and a unique set of 'footprints'.
The researchers say the fossilized tracks indicate the soft-bodied animal's musculature enabled it to move through the sediment on the shallow ocean floor. The pattern of movement indicates an evolutionary adaptation to search for food, which would have been organic material in the sediment.
The precise age of the tracks was calculated at the U of A by dating the age of an igneous rock that intruded into the siltstone in the area where the tracks were found. It took more than two years for U of A researchers to satisfy themselves and a panel of peer review scientists that the age of 585 million years is accurate. The dating process included a trip back to Uruguay to collect more samples of the fossilized rock and multiple sessions of mass spectrometry analysis.
U of A paleontologist Murray Gingras said when it comes to soft-bodied animals and their tracks it's not unusual for the animal's body to disappear but its tracks become fossilized.
Prior to the U of A find and age confirmation, the oldest sign of animal life was dated at 555 million years ago from a find made in Russia.
Kurt Konhauser, a U of A geomicrobiologist, says the team's discovery will prompt new questions not only about the timing of animal evolution, but also the environmental conditions under which they evolved. Konhauser explains that the challenge now is "to find out how these animals evolved to the point where they were able to move about and hunt for food."
The U of A's research team includes Ernesto Pecoits, Natalie Aubet, Kurt Konhauser, Larry Heaman, and Richard Stern and Murray Gingras. The research was published June 28, in the journal Science.
Explore further:
New evidence found for the oldest oxygen-breathing life on land
More information:
"Bilaterian Burrows and Grazing Behavior at >585 Million Years Ago," by E. Pecoits et al., Science, 2012.
TheGhostofOtto1923
SatanLover
flicktheswitch
Nyloc
CardacianNeverid
How do we know that god didn't make it look like the fossil is 585 million years old to fool the unworthy of salvation?
Birger
UleeUggams
kevinrtrs
The researchers are not even at least willing to admit that this is a sheer guess. They are stating this as if it's a fact. By now the refrain should be clear - they just weren't there to document what it was like before such supposed "evolutionary adaption" occurred, nor were they there to record the result of such adaptation. Hence whatever they saw in the sediment cannot tell them anything about ANY "evolutionary adaptation".
One needs to be on the lookout for such sleight of hand in these "journeys into the past" which are more story-telling than real science.
The only science is that tracks were discovered and after ASSUMING that the igneous intrusion happened at the same time as the sedimentation, they determined some "age" for the tracks - and It might not be such a co-incidence at all.
barakn
While it's quite possible the people you think are your parents were present at the moment of your conception, I'm quite certain they never bothered to document that magic moment. By your logic, there's no proof you were ever conceived, at least not not in the manner you ASSUME. Perhaps your mother was impregnated by a space alien, or by God, or she eschews help and reproduces by parthenogenesis. Or quite possibly, Kevin, I am your father.
TheGhostofOtto1923
So ergo then god is a slug although he is a VERY BIG one. With iridescent skin and what leaves a trail of caramel ice cream and appleseeds as he squirms along at lightspeed and beyond. Lightspeed offers no resistance to gods almighty WILL. More likely parsonogenesis.
Torbjorn_Larsson_OM
Yes, these are meticulously peer-reviewed facts ("It took more than two years for U of A researchers to satisfy themselves and a panel of peer review scientists") and they are known to tell us about biological behavior, hence evolutionary adaptations. Standard biology. Don't ever lie, or you will be a 'damned' fool.
TheGhostofOtto1923
-And please do not forget:
"I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.'" (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)
-You have been warned.
Question: why would the great slug god need rest?
Torbjorn_Larsson_OM
First, creativelutionists random "poofing" of unrelated animals doesn't make any sense. What is the likelihood of random animals coming together on the same planet? It is literary astronomical small!
Then, creativelutionists cites their Saint Einstein 'holy' text, that says "there will be causality". Meaning there will be slugs upon slugs. Oh yeah? Then which slug made the "very big"? Also, the universe was smaller and simpler back then, hence small slugs had to slug off later big ones. You can't start with the biggest, most complex slug first.
It is all more story-telling than real religion.
Scientist_Steve
Oh god, the irony in that statement coming from you almost made me shit my pants.
TheGhostofOtto1923
This is similar to the reason allah requires some (not all) muslims to eschew toilets and squat to do their business. Sit-down johns were in use during the prophets time, and allah could see that people dawdled far longer on them. And so to promote harmony among believers in chronically overcrowded societies he made them squat. Hail to the wise and pragmatic slug god of all men.
This is similar to the reason he gave islam fridays, jews saturdays, and xians sundays, as their mandatory sabbaths to be idle upon pain of death.
And hogs not only harbor trichanosis, but will consume roots and bark and so must be unclean for wholly pragmatic ecological reasons. Like women during menstruation. I am sure there is a pragmatic reason for that one too. Smell?
Hail to the wise and pragmatic slug god of all men (and women).
TheGhostofOtto1923
"5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;" jer1
PhotonX
Researchers find that humans can solve questions such as the Earth's age, Solar System origins, and the history of Humankind, just as police solve unseen murders by using clues and evidence.
.
By employing tools such as evidence and data collection, research, deduction, and reasoning, it is possible to explain the past without actually having seen it. This same study shows that people with limited imagination may struggle to understand these abilities. Those who have suffered the abuse of childhood religious indoctrination may find it especially hard, but even they can come to enjoy this basic human skill if they work hard to unshackle themselves from the their irrational and totally unsubstantiated beliefs.
aroc91
And that sort of irony is precisely why I think he's just trolling. He says stuff like that all the time and I think it's deliberate.
Torbjorn_Larsson_OM
Actually I don't think we need the help of trolls to grasp that religion is fairy tales especially fit for dimwits.
Husky
Birger
I think I stick to science, thank you very much ;-)
IronhorseA
I do believe telling an animal what to do or what not to do constitutes work. Hence the above quote is an impossible request. ;P