In The Blink Of An Eye (2 page)

“A well-written book, containing much really interesting science and a good strong hypothesis that will surely stimulate others to praise, to criticize and try to refine or replace.”

“ Parker's research has that pop-science ‘wow' factor—dramatic transformations over aeons of time, alien-like life forms, fragments of the secret of our own emergence.”

“Compelling.”

“[Parker is a] genius, a cool-headed logician with the soul of an artist. . . . [He] has managed to crack a mystery that evolutionists have fretted over since Darwin first sharpened his quill . . .
In the Blink of an Eye
might very well make him a celebrity.”

“Parker's ideas are fascinating.”

“Parker will have more than a few palaeontologists choking on their cornflakes.”

“The outlines of [Parker's] argument are laid out with compelling logic and clarity, and his solution to the Cambrian mystery seems both brilliant and obvious: we must have been blind to miss it.”

“
In the Blink of an Eye
presents its arguments the way a prosecutor presents a criminal case against the accused in a courtroom melodrama. . . . I don't think you can find a more reader-friendly introduction to evolutionary biology.”

“Full of fascinating scientific lore . . . The flash of unexpected insight that characterizes [Parker's] discovery is of the rarest kind, and with a book like
In the Blink of an Eye
, readers have a chance to share in one of those ‘aha!' moments that happen so infrequently in the world of science.”

“[Parker's] clarity will thrill science fans, as will his revolutionary theory.”

“Parker's conclusion is both convincing and surprisingly fresh . . . Compelling . . . Cutting-edge science, highly recommended.”

-Kirkus
(starred review)

“An informative work of easily accessible science.”

“A young, brash zoologist . . . Parker makes a compelling case.”

“An insightful glimpse into the mind of the scientist. . . [A] thought-provoking work.”

“A brilliant and eminently readable evolutionary detective tale . . . Parker's energy and intelligence are undeniable . . . [He] has led us down a remarkable trail and one hopes he has many others to explore.”

“[Parker's] central argument certainly deserves careful attention . . . fascinating examples.”

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE,
A Study in Scarlet
(1887)

The case [for the abrupt appearance of Cambrian fossils] at present must remain inexplicable . . . and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views [on evolution] here entertained

CHARLES DARWIN,
On the Origin of Species
(sixth and final edition, 1872)

 

 

The Big Bang in animal evolution was perhaps the most dramatic event in the history of life on Earth. During this blink of an eye in such history, all the major animal groups found today evolved hard parts and became distinct shapes, simultaneously and for the first time. This happened precisely 543 million years ago, at the beginning of a period in geological history called the Cambrian, and so has become known as the ‘Cambrian explosion'. But what lit the Cambrian fuse?

Until now, we have been without an acceptable explanation for this extraordinary burst in evolution - there is strong evidence against all the contending theories put forward. If time is given to consider most previous explanations, it becomes clear that in fact they explain a different evolutionary event and not the Cambrian explosion, as will be introduced early on in this book. That these two events were once amalgamated had been extremely misleading. In short, we know very well
what
happened during evolution's Big Bang, indeed numerous books have already been written on this question, but we don't know
why
it happened.
Why
it happened is the puzzle this book sets out to solve.

The mention of a ‘puzzle' and a ‘search for clues' is very appropriate to the story behind the discovery of the
why
, and this book grew naturally into a detective story. After all, this topic will emerge as real
scientific crime. I have spent many years stumbling into different fields of science, and it was while travelling along this uneven road that I ended up at the doorstep of the Cambrian. Almost by themselves, the clues towards a Cambrian theory just kept on accumulating, and eventually, after there were still no signs of evidence to the contrary, I became satisfied that the ‘truth had remained'.

To uncover the real cause of the Cambrian explosion
all
the pieces of the puzzle are needed. After introducing the problem in Chapter 1, the following seven chapters of this book will be dedicated to the more significant pieces. In the course of these chapters a multidimensional picture will be painted showing how life works today, what happened during the course of evolution on Earth and, consequently, how life worked at different times in the geological past. Having been warned that the more technical terms I adopt the smaller my audience will be, I have responded by keeping scientific names and terminology to a minimum. I have tried to use, or even invent, common names of animals wherever possible, and must apologise if this method appears too simplistic or distracting. Nonetheless, the most important, recurring scientific terms have necessarily survived the editorial process.

By the beginning of the penultimate chapter, all the clues needed to solve the
why
of the Cambrian explosion will have been presented. Scientific evidence will be extracted not just from biology, but also geology, physics, chemistry, history and art. Subjects such as eyes, colour, fossils, predators, Egyptian statues, the deep sea and coral reefs will be entertained. What was the significance of Maxwell's breakfast or of Newton's peacock to our understanding of evolution? Might they be on a par with Charles Doolittle Walcott's monumental discovery of the Cambrian ‘Burgess Shale' fossils themselves? I feel that the Cambrian explosion is something worthy of anyone's time, and that the explanation of this event is worthwhile publicising. I hope readers will agree.

My road to the Cambrian was possible only because of some wonderful opportunities presented to me, for which I am extremely grateful. In the first place there were Penny Berents and Pat Hutchings, who offered me my first position at the Australian Museum in Sydney. Here I was lucky enough to spend several years examining living and
preserved specimens from every major animal group on Earth - an experience which contrasted greatly with my days studying animal diversity from a textbook as an undergraduate. Then there were Jim Lowry and Noel Tait, at the Australian Museum and Macquarie University (Sydney) respectively, who registered my research for a Ph.D. degree, and taught me so much about animal diversity, ecology and evolution. But I also received considerable help and encouragement from many more members of the Australian Museum than I have space to list here. I am grateful to them all.

By now I had chosen to study seed-shrimps as my specialist subject, and received expert tuition from Lou Kornicker at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC) and Anne Cohen (Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History). Their kindness and patience were important to my early career. But, as will be revealed in this book, seed-shrimps led me into a very unexpected and different subject - classical optics.

Michael Land (Sussex University), Sir Eric Denton (Marine Biological Association of the UK, Plymouth) and Peter Herring (Southampton Oceanography Centre) in England had produced some inspiring work on optics and colour in animals. It was great to join in their subject, and I thank them for all the help they gave me, and for tolerating my strange enquiries. After training in the subject of animal structural colours I was ready to bother the optical physicists, particularly Ross McPhedran and David McKenzie (following a significant introduction by their colleague, Maryanne Large) at Sydney University (although many others gave considerable time to my cause). Thanks to these physicists I quickly became familiar with an otherwise unfamiliar subject from its beginnings. And I have found the application of optics to nature quite fascinating.

Looking forwards, sideways, or who knows which direction, I caught a glimpse of the Cambrian. I was steered around the subject of Cambrian biology by numerous palaeontologists. In particular I am grateful to Greg Edgecombe (Australian Museum), Simon Conway Morris (Cambridge University) and the late Stephen Jay Gould (Harvard University) for thought-provoking discussions and comments on my work, and Des Collins (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto,
Canada) for the trip of a lifetime to the famed ‘Burgess Shale' quarry in the Canadian Rockies.

Many of the above people supported my move to Oxford University, and I thank Marian Dawkins and Paul Harvey for making that possible. And then there is the small matter of funding, without which my research would never have begun. This commenced with research grants from the Australian Museum, Macquarie University and the Smithsonian Institution. Then came more substantial funding (for three-year projects) from the Australian Biological Research Study to examine seed-shrimp diversity, and from the Australian Research Council to investigate structural colours in animals. Today I am fortunate to hold a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, which frees maximum time for research. That has been a huge help, but has been gratefully topped up with grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council in the UK. Also I am thankful to Somerville College, Oxford, for making me a Research Fellow as supported by the Ernest Cook Research Fund.

Outside my research career, I have people to thank for their necessary help with this book specifically. Cathy Kennedy, of the Oxford University Press, taught me the trade of writing for an audience beyond that of my academic peers, and must have been horrified by my first attempts - after strict scientific conditioning, the popularisation of science is not easy! Peter Robinson of the Curtis Brown literary agency in London helped to refine my technique. But it was the editors I worked with, particularly Andrew Gordon in the UK (and Amanda Cook in the US), who after struggling through early drafts of half-science-half-popular-science, finally transformed my ideas into something readable. And I thank Jeremy Day of Day & Co., London, and the American scientist Ronald Watts for sparking Chapter 10, which may not have happened without their stimulating discussions and interest in my Cambrian ideas.

Finally I thank my parents, other members of my family and a close friend for their continual encouragement and support of my research career.

The explosive evolution during the Cambrian . . . one of the most enigmatic episodes in the history of life

DEREK BRIGGS, DOUGLAS ERWIN AND
FREDERICK COLLIER (1994)

The ‘Cambrian explosion' . . . a pivotal moment in the history of life

STEPHEN JAY GOULD,
Wonderful Life
(1989)

Why was there a radiation in the Cambrian? Our most sincere answer is that we do not know

JAN BERGSTRÖM (1993)

I have a clear memory of animal diversity classes as an undergraduate. Each week I would open my vintage textbook at a different chapter to find a meaningless black and white line drawing of a representative from a new animal group, blending naturally into its background of page creases, ink blots and previous students' scribbles. All in all, the illustrations were hardly more exciting than the thick, blotted stamps of the antediluvian typewriter. They bore no relation to living creatures, nor could one separate the extinct from the living.