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Wagamaga OP t1_j7ysg2f wrote

About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers – including scientists from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal.

A fossilized ocean ecosystem Until now, scientists have long theorized that scorching hot ocean conditions resulting from catastrophic climate change prevented the development of complex life after the mass extinction. This idea is based on geochemical evidence of ocean conditions at the time. Now the discovery of fossils dating back 250.8 million years near the Guizhou region of China suggests that complex ecosystems were present on Earth just one million years after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which is much earlier than previously thought

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf1622

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pencock t1_j800iqs wrote

A million years may be nothing in geological terms but it’s astronomical in biological terms. Plenty of time for complex ecosystems to re-establish if even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of complex life survived

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Scipion t1_j80is8z wrote

So long as we have liquid water, life will spin up. It's a perfect medium for simple chemistry to coalesce, a critical point for formation.

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[deleted] t1_j82s7uw wrote

In astronomical terms, 250 million years is 1.085 galactic years.

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Grey___Goo_MH t1_j7z58kz wrote

Life thrives upon the death of past generations not that surprising life rebounds quickly when given room and resources to explode

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coolbreeze770 t1_j80h59t wrote

I wonder where humanity will be in 1 million years

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Artanthos t1_j81f0yl wrote

Most likely not identifiable as human by modern standards.

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[deleted] t1_j83kc5e wrote

Our solar system does one revolution around the Milky Way in 230,000,000 years.

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