Neurognosis
Science in general will be the majority of my work here but much focus will be on neuroscience, psychology, neurobiology, evolutionary biology, and palaeoanthropology. There will also be ample dose of personal adventures and trials posted.
Real Name: Cory Overby Member Since: October 10, 2007 Last Signed In: June 29, 2008 Profile Views: 408 Blog Views: 1055 Farewell George... I learned something just now... Platypus Genome Wow, so, it's been a busy time... ...it's been a while... Busy, busy... Pre-Cambrian Explosion? Insight into the neurobiology of Boderline Personality Disorder Kiss and run and Festivus for the rest of us... Chain mails, e-mails, bulletins et cetera... October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 
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That's right folks, sometime during the Ediacaran period a diversification is evident in the fossil record. This is reported in a new article in the journal Science by Shen et al. (2008)*. The event the authors are calling the "Avalon Explosion" closely mirrors the later Cambrian explosion, being "a rapid evolution of body plans followed by taxonomic diversification within the limits of a predefined morphospace (pp. 84)".
This finding is important as it suggests "that the decoupling of taxonomic and morphological evolution is not unique to the Cambrian explosion (pp. 84)". This shows that other events of rapid diversification have taken place. The authors do not delve into the possible causative agents for the "explosion" but they do suggest it as a definite avenue for further research. *Article: Shen, B., Dong, L., Xiao, S., and Kowaleswski, M. (2008). The Avalon explosion: Evolution of Ediacara morphospace. Science, 319, 81-84. |