Arthropods, with harder bodies and better cognition than some other candidates, seem to be the most likely culprit.
Cambrian
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The Long and the Weak of It—The Ediacaran Magnetic Field
A roughly 70-million-year interval of anomalously weak magnetic field during the Ediacaran period could have triggered atmospheric changes that supported the rise of macroscopic life.
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Fluid Dynamics of Tiny, Ancient Marine Animals
Water flow simulations using 3D models of fossils yield new clues to the evolution of organisms known as medusozoans.
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A Dipole Field from the Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition Onward?
The Ediacaran features an instable magnetic field complicating paleogeographic reconstructions; a new paleointensity study on late Ediacaran rocks indicates a weak but stable dipolar field.
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Multicellular Algae Discovered in an Early Cambrian Formation
A new study describes eukaryotic organisms found organized in a cortex-medulla pattern in southern China’s Kuanchuanpu Formation.
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Geologists Have a New Tool for Reconstructing the Ancient Climate
A new study of seafloor sediments finds that the temperature record in the early Paleozoic corresponds to significant shifts in the diversity of life on Earth.
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Newly Discovered Fossil Species Named After Star Wars Starship
The 500-million-year-old species is a distant relative of today’s crabs, spiders, and insects.
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Did Global Glaciation Cause the Great Unconformity?
In a new study, researchers make the case that large-scale glaciation during parts of the Neoproterozoic era led to extensive erosion of Earth’s crust.
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Scientists Discover Pristine Collection of Soft-Tissue Fossils
The fossils include jellyfish, box jellies, branched algae, and sponges, which are underrepresented in or missing from other deposits.
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Rocks with Soft-Tissue Fossils Share a Mineral Fingerprint
Discovering new resting places of these rare and information-rich fossils will be critical to understanding the largest expansion of life in Earth’s history, according to researchers.