What caused the Cambrian explosion?

For most of the Earth's history, life consisted of the simplest organisms; but then something happened that would give rise to staggering diversity, and, ultimately, life as complex as that which we see today. Scientists are still struggling to figure out just what that was.

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[PointyTailofSatan]

What is not really explained well in this video is the fact that simple single celled life seems to have developed almost the moment liquid water was available 3.5 billion years ago. So it would appear the initial creation of basic life was relatively easy. It was the sudden jump to multi-cellular life after 3 billion more years that remains one of the greatest questions of biology.

[shawnporter]

Unlike facebook which is utter crap, youtube may be the most useful site on the internet. Wanted to be a paleontologist as a kid, career path went elsewhere but maintained my fascination for the subject. youtube has vast amounts of material on the topic and allows the intested layman access to materials thay may have long been forgotten. Well done, , , , Oh and interesting summation. Amazing how well we have progressed in our understanding of the beginnigns of life.

[JayHeartwing]

The reasons why people are here:
- Biologists
- Bill Wurtz
- Attack on Titan

[dinobite]

never knew an anime would connect me to this prehistoric things

[brotalnia]

this is the kind of videos i subscribed for

[diebesgrab]

The Economist: What caused the Cambrian explosion?
Me: Wait, what? The economist is looking at paleontology? What?

[NopalTheRock]

Literally, AOT bring everyone to learn biology

[Tapajara]

Consider that the Cambrian Explosion was pretty much about the arthropods which happened because of their new found ability to produce chitin. For the mollusks it was the Ordovician (and their ability to produce a calcium carbonate shell). For the Chordates it was the Silurian (and their ability to produce a calcium phosphate skeleton). It was all about the ability lay down skeletal material and HGT (horizontal gene transfer) was almost certainly the mechanism that spread the capability among related taxa.

[zedwms]

Nobody expects the Cambrian Explosion!

[HotZetiGer]

they talk about eyes, oxygen but no sexual organ explosions ?

[MattJohno]

It's the cambrian explosion!
"Wow, that's animals and stuff"

[cafinario]

Ok, we have no idea how the Cambrian explosion occurred.

[stankfaust]

I've always viewed the cambrian explosion as an event wherein you have a vast habitat of plant life with no predation. Once levels of oxygen became enough to support sustained movement, the arms race began. But keep in mind, that virtually EVERY predatory mutation during this time was likely successful (or at least a large portion were compared to later where predatory niches are filled and competition fierce)

[lilitheden]

I just cannot get enough of this evolution stuff, it’s amazing, wonderful and magical ...

[Ian]

Now we know the Ediacarans lived alongside the Cambrians, and Anomalocaridids survived until during the Devonian

[LadyJ_]

I'm almost 30 & I chuckled when the narrator said anus .... * sigh *

[--Paws--]

I wonder if the water back then was freshwater, brackish or saltwater. It could be that different concentrations of minerals and chemicals affected the creatures and it didn't matter since they have adopted to their environment.
The shape of a creature is affected by how they move and how their mate and their opponents react (social interactions).
A predator will eat their prey regardless of shells and spikes. The shells, spikes and other limbs affect how the creature expresses their aggression towards a rival and many other methods of communication towards their mate.
The size and the other augmented body parts are due to their way of obtaining food and how they move about.
Most of the creatures featured in the video resemble many microscopic creatures and vernal pond creatures of today.

[elicurlee-strauss]

thank you been pondering this mystery all day and all night and i a m tired of all the conspiracy theories about it . this was succinct and based on science.

[theHentySkeptic]

most of the basic body forms (plus some we have since lost) appeared out of nowhere for no known reason in a little bit more than the time taken for us to diversify from our chimp ancestor - amazing! All those; complex organs, feedback loops in physiology, nervous systems etc - utterly and literally fantastic.

[brainstormingsharing]

Absolutely well done and definitely keep it up!!! 👍👍👍👍👍