[Flipside]

No, this isn't a thread about aliens in the Whitehouse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29054889

Basically, a creature found in a sea-dive a few decades ago has joined one of only a few species in defying current indentification conventions. Seems to be a leftover from the Ediacaran expansion and scientists are struggling to find exactly where it fits in with current definitions.

To quote : "We think it belongs in the animal kingdom somewhere, the question is where".

Love this kind of stuff, just goes to show how much there is not only to discover, but that we've already discovered, we just haven't realized it yet.

[Luis Dias]

A mushroom-shaped sea animal discovered off the Australian coast has defied classification in the tree of life.

EVIDENCE THAT EVILUTION IS A LIE AMIRIGHT OR AMIRITE

[The E]

To quote : "We think it belongs in the animal kingdom somewhere, the question is where".

You read something like that, and you know you're in uncharted territory.

[Phantom Hoover]

I don't think it can really beat the time biologists realised that there's actually this huge group of prokaryotes that didn't actually fit into the fundamental taxonomy of life they'd set up.

[Goober5000]

Discovering new creations is always awesome.   The funny thing is that we know more about the Moon than the deep ocean.

[Grizzly]

Discovering new creations is always awesome.   The funny thing is that we know more about the Moon than the deep ocean.

Solid proof that nobody had their priorities straight in the cold war

[Phantom Hoover]

Well I mean the moon is pretty easy to get to and has excellent visibility compared to the deep ocean.

[Aardwolf]

And Goob calls them "creations" 

[Flipside]

Whether created by a series of amazing chemicall/environmental events or an over-arching deity, they were kind of created, from a certain point of view. Just bend your interpretation a little for the sake of non-confrontational conversation

[InsaneBaron]

Nifty! I always found it funny that we can see what's on the moon so easily from so far away (cheap telescope is all you need), but in order to find out what's on the ocean floor we actually need to get within spitting distance. 

[Bobboau]

it's a shame they couldn't get DNA from them due to the preservation method, these things could have shed some light on the Ediacaran animals.

[Flipside]

I think understanding these 'anomalies' will probably be easier once we start to investigate extra-planetary life and begin to understand the nature of evolution more clearly, 'Animal, Vegetable, Mineral' is probably going to be far too vague an set of interpretations in the future.

[Bobboau]

well, it already is, if you look at the recent history of taxonomy they have revamped it a few times in just the last few decades.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, half of the "kingdoms" I learned about in grade school are no longer in functional use as-is.

[Flipside]

Yeah, I kinda learned them 40 years ago, also, there's things like Fungi for a start, which were causing confusion even back then. But it is always fascinating to see what other roads nature can find to develop along.

[deathfun]

Whether created by a series of amazing chemicall/environmental events or an over-arching deity, they were kind of created, from a certain point of view. Just bend your interpretation a little for the sake of non-confrontational conversation

Yes... good... no one suspects anything
There were no genetic experiments that led to this... none at all...

[Flipside]

Don't worry, even as we speak the unsuspecting human guinea-pigs are having the X-Gene implanted into their systems.

This new creatures DNA allow us to reach a new level in the power of 'floating around and not doing much', today, people on airbeds in Spain, tomorrow, the World!

[Nuke]

the article pretty much says 'catch me another one so i can look at its genes'.

[S-99]

Discovering new creations is always awesome.   The funny thing is that we know more about the Moon than the deep ocean.

The moon is devoid of life, easier to observe, not cloaked by anything, and it's terrain is rather easy to predict.

I likely compare the moon to earth in this case as an orbiting ball of paper refuse with it's only use being gravitational presence for the tide (maybe a few more things too). The earth is way more complex. Considering the cost of going to the moon is pointless. Going there cost way more, but what was the point aside from just going there?

[watsisname]

Going there cost way more, but what was the point aside from just going there?

Just so that we can say we know more about the Moon than the deep ocean.