It had been a long-running family joke that Great-Grandma Alice, who had lived on L-305, had depopulated an entire planet in her younger days by hanging a fish outside the mayor's bedroom window. With your background in crowd psychology, you could understand how such a joke could send an aging boom town packing. By the time Grandma Alice was born, L-305 was a has-been planet. Years of murky water, "critter sightings" and poor advertising had turned the once booming tourist trap into one big vacancy. Townsfolk had already started leaving for brighter, busier planets, selling their businesses and homes to a financing company. When Great-Grandma hung up one of those big funny-looking fish (that was a fish, wasn't it?) that used to wash up on shore, the townspeople decided they had had it. Besides, you noticed during your walk along the beach that there were very interesting tracks left by a large animal venturing from the sea onto land - what the heck was that critter? Maybe the transition to life on land was already underway, and you pondered with some anxiety what was in store. You have until next week to figure out what really happened on this planet so that you can convince the re-colonization committee that L-305 is better left alone.
Leads and Sources
Magazines and Articles:
"When Life Exploded," J. Madeleine Nash. Cover Story Time Magazine December 4, 1995.
"On Embryos and Ancestors," Stephen Jay Gould. Natural History 7/98-8/98, p. 20.
"The Evolution of Life on the Earth," Stephen Jay Gould. Scientific American October 1994, p. 85.
"Breathing Room for Early Animals" (Oxygen), Andrew H. Knoll. Nature Vol. 382, July 11, 1996, p. 111.
"The Big Bang of Animal Evolution," Jeffrey Levinton. Scientific American November 1992.
"Hypersea Invasion," Carl Zimmer. Discover October 1995, p. 76.
"The Emergence of Animals," Mark McMenamin, Scientific American April 1987, p. 94.
"Life’s Grand Explosions." (theories on why the Cambrian explosion occurred), Lori Oliwenstein. Discover January 1996, p. 42.
"The Molecular Explosion," Henry Gee. Nature Vol. 373, February 16,1995, p. 558.
Internet Sites:
The Divisions of Precambrian Time
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/precambrian.htmlLife of the Vendian
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/vendianlife.htmlLearning About the Vendian Animals
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/critters.htmlOxygen Pulse and the Evolutionary Expansion of the Metazoans
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8200/Oxygenation.htmlCambrian Explosion Website
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html
Books:
The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough. Mark and Dianna McMenamin, 1990, Columbia University Press.
The Crucible of Evolution: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals. Simon Conway Morris, 1998, Oxford University Press.
Biology. N.A. Campbell, 1987, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co.