The Noble Worm
A poem, first in a series based on what’s been in the news in science, from Katherine Allen, a researcher in geochemistry and paleoclimate at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Behold! New treasures from the Burgess Shale,
In black and silent strata long held firm.
From features soft, a bold ancestral tale …
Be proud, descendants of the noble worm!
Oh, glorious the hemichordate line,
Spartobranchus tenuis among them,
On slime and mud they heartily do dine;
History has surely under-sung them.
From which deep root, vertebral creatures grew?
A scarcity of fossils long obscured;
Into this question we can dive anew,
With gorgeous, detailed imprints that endured.
A wondrous time, the Cambrian Explosion …
Move over, Eve; my roots are in the ocean!
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Further reading:
- Tubular worms from the Burgess Shale, Nature / News & Views by Henry Gee:
- Tubicolous enteropneusts from the Cambrian period, Caron et al., Nature 2013
First posted on 3/29/13 at Katherine Allen’s website.