Single Microbe May Have Triggered the "Great Dying"

Posted by Unknown on Monday December 17, 2012 @08:05PM from the get-your-flu-shot dept.

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from Medical Daily about a new theory for what triggered the "Great Dying: " "Researchers believe that they may finally know why the event occurred, but the theory is not without controversy. There are several theories, including the possibility of a meteorite hitting the planet. Previously, most researchers believed that the Permian mass extinction was a result of a series of volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia. ... However, Daniel Rothman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is floating around a different theory. As he presented in a meeting for the American Geophysical Union, he believes that the mass extinction could have been caused by something much smaller. His theory is that the extinction was caused by a single strain of bacteria."

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The kaboom by Dexter+Herbivore · 2012-12-17 20:17 · Score: 5, Funny

But where's the Earth shattering kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth shattering kaboom!
Jay Gould by Kupfernigk · 2012-12-17 20:35 · Score: 5, Insightful

He remarked in one of his essays that people completely misunderstand evolution, using teleological thinking to believe that we are in some way the "highest form" or "goal" of evolution. But in fact, in terms of biomass and effects on the Earth's ecosystems, we are still living in the Age of Bacteria.

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From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
It's not the size of the organism by maweki · 2012-12-17 21:50 · Score: 5, Funny

it's how you mass-extinct with it.