Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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Category: Science
Posted on: June 19, 2007 10:33 AM, by PZ Myers
Wish I could be there.
It's a day of writing, of car repair, of trips to the airport (we're shipping Skatje off to a work camp…shhhh, don't tell her, she thinks she's going 'camping'), and little low level aggravations, like being locked out of my office because they're waxing the floors. So, sure, I wouldn't mind a little African geology trip right now.
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Comments
I thought the Cambrian happened in Wales...
Posted by: John Wilkins | June 19, 2007 10:58 AM
And the Ediacaran happened in Australia. History certainly was a bit of a gadabout, wasn't he?
Posted by: PZ Myers | June 19, 2007 11:08 AM
Hmmm. Does that then put Ken Ham in the Cincinnatian?
Posted by: NJ | June 19, 2007 12:01 PM
NJ, Cincinnati boosters will happily tell you that The Hamster is in Kentucky, on the other side of the river.
fusilier
James 2:24
Posted by: fusilier | June 19, 2007 12:43 PM
And the Ediacaran happened in Australia. History certainly was a bit of a gadabout, wasn't he?
That reminds me. Has anyone here been to Mistaken Point, NF? I thought that I saw somewhere that making copies of the fossils is prohibited but saw people doing just that on a tv show but now can't find that with a Google search. I was also wondering how bad a walk it is. It doesn't seem bad compared to taking a hike up to the Mt. Stephen Fossil Beds on wet clay but I was a fair bit younger then!
Posted by: Mena | June 19, 2007 12:55 PM
Just so. But the Upper Ordovician rocks (Cincinnatian series) extend over the river (OK, OK, under the river) into Kentucky.
Just my way of comparing Ham unfavorably to a trilobite or horn coral.
Posted by: NJ | June 19, 2007 8:22 PM
Geological time intervals are usually named after locations with rock formations that are notable members of those intervals.
Which is why Ediacaran-period rocks are also found in several other places.
Posted by: Loren Petrich | June 19, 2007 10:45 PM
What I find interesting is that the Pre-Cambrian beds are limestone - made from the skeletons of millions of dead (multicellular) animal-shells ....
Did you know that, in Wales, there is a local newspaper called "The Cambrian Times"
??
Posted by: G. Tingey | June 20, 2007 4:34 AM
That site looks really interesting (well, to a non-geologist like me). And Namibia is a lovely country.
As for African trips...I'm lucky to live about a 25 minute drive from the Sterkfontein Caves where they've been removing Little Foot from the rock for several years now. I love visiting the caves.
Posted by: Graeme | June 20, 2007 7:33 AM
Actually, most of the limestone was inorganically precipitated, either directly from ocean water or associated with stromatolites (algal mats).
And although the Cambrian was originally defined from the sequence in Wales, it turns out that most of the lower Cambrian there has been removed by an erosional uncomformity. It's not the only time a name has survived long after the type locality has changed.
I'm not complaining about the link, of course, but I only thought PZ would start getting jealous when he saw the fossils...
Posted by: Chris Rowan | June 20, 2007 8:24 AM