Learn more about a time period marked by an intense burst of evolution. 3 min read The Cambrian period, part of the Paleozoic era, produced the most intense burst of evolution ever known.

For over a century, the Cambrian arthropod Helmetia expansa remained a mystery. Discovered by paleontologist Charles ...

This animation created for Evolution: "Great Transformations" depicts creatures whose fossils were found at the Burgess Shale. As alien as these creatures seem, they are also surprisingly familiar.

The new study found the characteristics in Helmetia expansa differed from previous studies. It is said that these species had ...

Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia is well known for its collection of fossils from the Ediacaran period—a geologic timespan that predates the Cambrian explosion. An international ...

Environmental stress in evolution can be reframed as a powerful engine of innovation, not simply a barrier to survival.

Animals living about 500 million years ago spent time on mudflats that were periodically exposed to the air. The finding suggests that some of the earliest animals were able to survive outside of ...

Museum palaeontologists Dr Greg Edgecombe and Dr Xiaoya Ma are using extraordinary fossils to reveal exquisite details about the earliest eyes on Earth. More than 541 million years ago, during the ...

A fossil analysis suggests that the yunnanozoan, a wormlike fish that flourished around 520 million years ago, sported structures that were the precursors of the head and jaws of modern vertebrates. A ...

This animation created for Evolution: "Great Transformations" depicts creatures whose fossils were found at the Burgess Shale. As alien as these creatures seem, they are also surprisingly familiar.