ACL: Advent of Complex Life - MIT Astrobiology Team

We're on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube - follow us to hear about research, news, education initiatives, and resources.

Advent of Complex Video Series Videos

The Advent of Complex Life Video Series features short short videos of paleontologists and biologists on the team speaking about important topics, and includes supporting materials, such as additional photographs and links to external web sources.  The level of the videos is appropriate for the general public and can be used in classroom settings for educational activities, such as webquests.  The entire series can also be found on the Advent of Complex Life YouTube Channel. 

• What is the importance of the Ediacaran fossils?
• What is the evidence that these are fossils and not simply markings from non-living organisms?  How can you tell the difference between the two?  What do you look for?
• Was there life before the Ediacaran period?  How do we know?
• What habitat(s) were the fossils originally located and how do we know what the habitat was?
• What is an animal?
• How old are the fossils and how do we know that? Are there other places in the world where these types of fossils are found?

Ediacaran Biota

• Alexander G. Liu, Duncan Mcllroy and Martin D. Brasier. First evidence for locomotion in the Ediacara biota from the 565 Ma Mistaken Point Formation, Newfoundland (410k PDF file).  Geology 2010;38;123-126 doi: 10.1130/G30368.1.