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Article: When animals hit the big time.(new discoveries about the Cambrian explosion)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- November 10, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Sitting in his sprawling office under the eaves of the Earth sciences building at the University of Cambridge, Nicholas Butterfield seems a typical denizen of the ivory tower. A specialist in ancient ecology, Butterfield spends most of his time pondering the finer points of life in seas that vanished hundreds of millions of years ago. But perhaps he isn't so far removed from the daily concerns of the rest of us after all; his biggest problem, it turns out, is sex.
It's not what you're thinking. His computer screen saver displays radio telescope data, not earthly delights. But as the discoverer of the earliest evidence of sexual reproduction--a red alga called ...