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Weird Fossils Show Ancient Organism Reproducing

Posted by timothy on from the privacy-of-their-own-bedrock dept.

ananyo writes "Strange fossils from Doushantuo in China, have turned out to be 570-million-year-old snapshots of an organism caught in the act of reproducing. Researchers have used three-dimensional X-ray scanning techniques to see that the fossils contain nuclei-like structures — and one even has the dumb-bell shape of a modern nucleus about to replicate. The fossils have divided palaeontologists for over a decade. It now seems likely they are fossils of creatures similar to modern single-celled microorganisms called mesomycetozoeans that are neither animals nor bacteria."

20 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. CP? by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

    snapshots of an organism caught in the act of reproducing.

    So its half a billion year old kiddie pr0n. nsfw. its a trap. I'm not clicking that link, not my thing at all. I remember when /. was more wholesome and family oriented and you just had to worry about goatse links.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  2. Be careful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    not to fuck near a volcano or future civilizations might find your boner in a rock.

    1. Re:Be careful by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      Gives new meaning to stiff as a rock.

      Viagra, it ain't got shit on fossilization.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    2. Re:Be careful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      If your erection lasts longer then 4 million years please call a physician?

    3. Re:Be careful by LifesABeach · · Score: 2

      I thought Fossils were the target market of Viagra?

    4. Re:Be careful by mfnickster · · Score: 1

      You're thinking of Vi-magma.

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    5. Re:Be careful by Sulphur · · Score: 2

      If your erection lasts longer then 4 million years please call a physician?

      Help us O. B. Gyn Kenobe; you're our only hope.

    6. Re:Be careful by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Help us O. B. Gyn Kenobe; you're our only hope.

      What - direct intra-muscular injection of Valium into the perineum (underside of your ball bag, in plain English) doesn't work for you? Well, that make you pretty unusual - it works for most people.

      Then again, the placebo treatment (approaching the engorged member with a big syringe filled with saline) has a pretty good success rate too.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  3. XXX by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whew, the .xxx TLD was made available just in time. Now we can register 570millionyearoldporn.xxx

  4. Rule 34. by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Those organisms existed, thus there must be their porn somewhere on the Internet.

    And now there is.

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  5. Probably NSFW by John3 · · Score: 2

    FTFA: "The partitions resemble animal-cell cleavage"

    --
    "We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
    1. Re:Probably NSFW by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Oh god.

      There is no such thing as "cleavage" on a cellular level!

      This scientist must be a scream on Rorschach tests.

      "Boobies"
      "More Boobies"
      "Itty Bitty Tittie Committee"
      "Dolly Parton"
      "I need to go the bathroom"

  6. Divided? by nitehawk214 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The fossils have divided palaeontologists for over a decade

    I see what you did there.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  7. Don't open the fossil it's a trap! by youn · · Score: 1

    well that's how half of zombie and monster movies start at least... so they must be right :p... is this what the mayans were talking about?

    --
    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  8. They found it!!! by nexxuz · · Score: 1

    The ORIGINAL beast with two backs!!!

    --
    I love random hex numbers! Just like this one, 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
  9. No music? by NetNed · · Score: 1

    Is this the origin of the "Bow chick a bow wow" music?

  10. HA by iUseMyBrain · · Score: 1

    570-million-years-old eh, what a joke...

  11. Re:Coitus interruptus by death by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

    Oh noes! Paleo snuff pr0n!

    --
    thegodmovie.com - watch it
  12. Fascinating ... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
    ... is a good word for these phosphorite fossils.

    I've been watching the reports for something like 8 years now. It did seem a bit peculiar that such a high proportion of the organisms would be caught dividing in a rock type that seemed to be the product of more-or-less continuous deposition. But then again, if they're Thiomargarita-like nektonic protozoa in mid-division, mid-water ... well that's pretty weird too.

    But a fascinating report, again, from these significant fossils. The very fact that they repeatedly fail to fit into our understanding of life ... just goes to show us that we don't (yet) really understand our world.

    Slashdot's NSFW, Rule-34, boner and kiddie-p0rn jokes ... what a lack of surprise.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  13. Anyone read that as "Ancient Orgasm Reproducing" by cylcyl · · Score: 1

    I admit that my mind is in the gutter today, but anyone else read it like that?

    Anyone?