The Cambrian period, often celebrated for the “Cambrian explosion”, marked a pivotal phase in the history of life when early arthropods emerged and rapidly diversified. These organisms not only ...

Every mammal, every fish, every vertebrate (creatures that have a spine) has two eyes. It’s been that way for millions and ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Over 500 million years ago, a taco-shaped marine organism named ...

Half a billion years ago, a shallow sea in what is now Siberia teemed with creatures that look more like science fiction than prehistory. Locked in that ancient seabed, scientists have now identified ...

New fossil evidence from China suggests that some of our vertebrate ancestors had four eyes. The study, published in Nature, ...

Palaeontologists are helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are ...

An illustration of the taco-shaped Odaraia, which researchers say likely swam upside-down and trapped prey in its spine-covered legs. Danielle Dufault, Royal Ontario Museum Around 540 million years ...

The Cambrian fossil record indicates that most animal phyla had diversified and inhabited the Earth’s oceans approximately 518 million years ago. But even though chordates—the group that includes ...

The most famous example of such exquisitely preserved Cambrian fossils is the Burgess Shale of Canada.

Fig.1: Tempo and mode in the body size evolution of Cambrian-Ordovician trilobites. Changes in maximum size (red) and mean size (blue) for each time slice, with lines and shading representing the mean ...