BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20240329T115225Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Tallinn:20190321T121500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Tallinn:20190321T134500 SUMMARY:How to build a sea-urchin: simulations as smoking guns UID:20240329T115226Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6f97df9687-7c6q9 TZID:Europe/Tallinn LOCATION:Jakobi 2\; Vanemuise 46\, Tartu\, Estonia\, 50090 DESCRIPTION:
Abstract
\nThe echinoderms are an ancient lineage whose modern-day representatives include sand-dollars and sea-urchins. In the deep past\, echinoderms were much more diverse. Prior to the end of the Paleozoic (around 250 million years ago)\, echinoderms boasted a wide variety of morphologies. What happened? In this paper\, I&rsquo\;ll examine how the use of simulations and other models can help resolve questions about the deep past: that they can act as &lsquo\;smoking guns&rsquo\;. Carol Cleland&rsquo\;s notion of a &lsquo\;smoking gun&rsquo\; refers specifically to new trace evidence which empirically discriminates between hypotheses about events in the deep past (the discovery of shocked quartz at the K-Pg boundary\, for instance\, favoured extra-terrestrial impact over mass volcanism occurring at the time). By developing simple geometric models of echinoderm development\, paleontologists are able to examine under what conditions lead to various body-forms. I&rsquo\;ll argue that such results can provide genuine evidence which can distinguish between historical hypotheses: that is\, that they are smoking guns. Simulations\, then\, can generate evidence about the past in a way analogous to (but not\, I&rsquo\;ll argue\, exactly the same as) observational evidence.