Posted on 10/30/2009 8:26:04 AM PDT by GodGunsGuts
Oct 28, 2009 — Two articles announced solutions to the evidential problem that most troubled Darwin – the sudden appearance of complex animals at the base of the Cambrian fossil record. Both of them involve chemical elements. The only difference is which element.
Science Daily announced a “Novel Evolutionary Theory For The Explosion Of Life.” The article acknowledged that “The Cambrian Explosion is widely regarded as one of the most relevant episodes in the history of life on Earth, when the vast majority of animal phyla first appear in the fossil record.” The article also acknowledged it to be a bit of a problem: “However, the causes of its origin have been the subject of debate for decades, and the question of what was the trigger for the single cell microorganisms to assemble and organize into multicellular organisms has remained unanswered until now.” Sitting on the edge of our seats after this build-up, we look into the article for the solution. An international team looked into the question. It’s calcium, they announced with chutzpah:
The researchers succeeded to show that the massive and sudden surge in the calcium concentration of the Cambrian seawater -- that is believed to be the result of volcanically active midocean ridges -- not only initiated the buildup of calcified shells, but was also mandatory for the aggregation and stabilisation of multicellular sponge structures. This allows, on the other hand, to formulate a novel theory where the geologically induced increase of marine calcium might be the key for understanding the Cambrian Explosion of Life.PhysOrg, on the other hand, had another element in mind to explain the “big growth spurts” in the evolutionary history of life. They had two in mind: the origin of eukaryotes, and the Cambrian explosion. “Scientists say the main driver of each growth step was a massive increase in the supply of oxygen, which is needed to convert food to the additional energy required for larger, more complex life forms.” But if you give food to an athlete, does it increase his complexity? How does that solve the problem? The article presented the views of David Johnston of Harvard. Sure enough, he thinks that size matters, and wrote a book called Why Size Matters. “It is the supreme and universal determinant of what any organism can be and can do.” Again, it is not clear why size alone creates complexity.This paper constitutes the first research work where single molecule force spectroscopy studies have provided meaningful answers to such a deep evolutionary biology question as the origin of multicellular animals, and might represent a milestone for both disciplines and an example of how multidisciplinarity and collaboration are essential components of excellent contemporary science.
So if the first eukaryotes started pumping oxygen into the atmosphere 2.35 billion years ago, why did it take so long for the Cambrian growth spurt? “Fueled by more oxygen, eukaryotes took another enormously significant stride: They started to combine into larger organisms containing multiple cells, organs and tissues.” This idea should be testable. People in oxygen tents should be examined to see if new cells, organs and tissues are emerging.
Johnston also omitted to address the origin of the genetic instructions to build new organs, tissues, and body plans. Could it be as simple as “just add oxygen”?
At first, these ancient animals were soft-bodied, like modern jellyfish. Around 542 million years ago, however, some animals developed shells and skeletons and grew larger.Our question about why with so much oxygen the animals waited almost 2 billion years to burst forth with 20 to 40 new complex body plans in a geological instant, without ancestors, is apparently not included in this edition of the story.This was the famous “Cambrian Explosion” of complex life forms, which led to today’s species, the biggest of them another million times larger than their single-celled ancestors.
Fish, reptiles, birds, amphibians, plants, mammals and human beings were finally on their way, and the Earth’s largest living thing, the sequoia tree, is 10 million billion times bigger than the first tiny microbe in the sea.
If they believe that solves the problem of the origin of genetic information for building new complex body plans, it’s novel, all right – as in science fiction. Have you ever in your life seen such empty fluff masquerading as an answer? If you have watched Darwin’s Dilemma, you understand the magnitude of the problem. At a memorable moment in the film, Richard Sternberg had just discussed the complexity of development of a body plan with its new genes, proteins, cell types, tissues and organs. “This is orders of magnitude more complex than anything we have been able to conceive,” he said, pointing back over his shoulder. “You”ve left the idea of ‘impossible by chance’ a long time ago.” But like a circus ringmaster doubling as a clown and magician, Johnston swept the elephant in the room away with pure magic. The eukaryote developed [miracle word] skeletons and body plans. This led to [miracle phrase] the complex Cambrian animals. Then human beings were finally on their way [miracle phrase]. While you weren’t thinking, his sleight-of-mind trick produced the zoo on stage. The crowd gasps in awe. His magic elixir was: oxygen!The other team boos from the stands. No, they shout. It was calcium! They come down to the ring and discuss this with the ringmaster. After some discussion, they come up with a compromise. They combine the calcium with the oxygen and get CaO2. Everyone is happy till they realize calcium peroxide is used to sterilize water.
Get your money back from this circus. Don’t be one of P.T. Barnum’s suckers, even if The Dawk hawks it as the Greatest Show on Earth.
Right back to junk science central, eh?
Acid rain killed the pond in my back yard on Cape Cod wether or not you care to believe in simple science or not. Lowered the pH, increased algae, increased algae toxins, the entire fish population died.....all species, bass, sunnies, pickeral, perch. Pond was later chemically re-claimed and restocked with the same fish species and has done well since.
The reason you don’t hear about it now is because regulating factory and power plant emissions reduced sulfur and nitrogen output, redugin acid rain and its effects.
....but I’m sure you know better.
“I’m curious whether there’s a period after which we can say that no new phyla have appeared?”
—I’m not sure what the most recent phylum is. But I’d say that, essentially, by definition, the beginning of a phylum is not something that can occur very recently - or that could occur tomorrow. It’s a label that would be put on a group of life forms only after many speciation events.
An analogy to a phylum and how it forms might be a language family (such as the “Romance Languages” of Latin, French, Romanian, etc).
At best, the witnesses to the time of the beginning of Latin probably wouldn’t have seen it as the beginning of a new language, but instead as merely a variation of another language (probably Greek?). And even if someone did see it as the beginning of a new language (which is highly unlikely) they certainly wouldn’t have seen it as the beginning of a whole new family type of languages. And thus the beginning of a language family is also something that, essentially by definition, is something that could only have occurred long ago. It won’t happen today. And the time that we call the beginning of a language will always be a case of “retrospective coronation”. Anyone living at the time of the beginning of Latin would have looking at that start as just a population of people speaking barely any differently than other populations - we can look back and call that time the beginning of a new language (and new language family) only because of our position far in the future and knowing what occurred later.
An analogy to a phylum and how it forms might be a language family ...So, by analogy, there might be a question or two about the Babel Explosion ...
Tx for the post : )
I don’t think anyone has ever addressed the scare campaigns about global cooling. Around the time that fears of “man-made” global cooling reached their peak, cooling ceased and then warming began. Why? The best answer I can give is that climate has always changed. Man has little impact. We don’t know enough to explain past warmings and coolings, or to predict future changes. But fear campaigns sell government. So such campaigns are popular among those with a socialist inclination.
Been to Italy a couple of times in the mid 70’s...and it amazes me they’re not communist by now. I mean officially, fully.
I don’t know what’s kept them afloat all this time...God’s will, the Catholic church, a combination of things, but it’s so sad for such a beautiful place with a rich history, etc.
If the Earth is only 6,000 years old there was no Cambrian period, remember? /sarc
Thanks for the ping!
Cause for the explosion of life: God said, “Let there be...”
I see ElectricStrawberry played the “uneducated” card. (yawn)
Funny, his calling card usually begins with BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. He must have been tired or something :o)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.