Advent of Complex Life

The NAI Advent of Complex Life Team is producing self-contained education activities that can be used to help teachers address specific parts of the National Science Education Standards, in the context of learning about astrobiology.  The activities, known as 'WebQuests', are designed to be inquiry-based, such that students seek information to solve a problem or complete an activity.  Students are challenged to explore, understand, and resolve an issue individually and/or in groups.  They are provided with background information and guidance to resources on the web in order t

When we can't go there ourselves to look around, how do search for life on other planets? What do we look for?

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How do you define complex life? What makes it complicated? And if single celled life is so pervasive and optimal, why did life evolve to be big and complex at all? Find out by watching this video:

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Did the Ediacaran organisms just disappear, evolve into something else and are we related to them? Watch Dr Phoebe Cohen explain what scientists know and don't know about evolution and fate of early complex life.

Think you know what an animal is? What are you and what defines things like you? Dr Phoebe Cohen explains how we know a species is an animal and what defines animals.

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Some of the Ediacaran organisms look a bit like plants, but many scientists believe they are animals. Watch Dr Phoebe Cohen explain why.

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Learn more about the Ediacaran organisms - is there evidence that they moved? If they were animals, what did they eat and how did they eat it if they didn't have mouths or heads?

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Learn about phylogeny and phylogenetic trees and what they tell us about how species are related:

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The following is a list of all known published Ediacaran 'fauna' taxa as of 7/2010. References to the sources are available.

Please let us know about any errors, omissions, or updates to this database.

Watch Dr Phoebe Cohen explain if life existed on Earth before the Ediacaran period and how we know that:

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