“Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million Years Later.”

Rachel Roberts

2/14/19

Biology

Current Event 3

Cummins, Eleanor. “Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million

Years Later.” Popular Science, 13 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/megapixels-fossilized-spider-glowing-eye.

For current event 3, I read the article, “Megapixels: This Fossilized Spider's Eyes Are Still Glowing 110 Million Years Later.” by Eleanor Cummins. The article discusses the discovery of two fossilized spiders who were found to have glowing eyes after 110 million years still. It first focuses on how in paleontology, fossil records often have a gap in them. The article says, “The past is like a piece of Swiss cheese. You may get a sense of its two-dimensional rhombus proportions, it's creamy yellow coloring or its waxy texture, but the holes are still numerous. In linguistics, such a chasm is called a “lacuna,” like a missing chapter in an ancient text, or a word that should exist but doesn’t.” This gap is an opportunity for discoveries. Paul Selden, a geologist from the University of Kanas, is the one who found the glowing eyes. Selden and his team noted that most spiders are preserved in amber; however, the spiders, known as Lagonomegopidae found were in Korean shale and were eventually transformed into rock. The cause of the glowing eyes was something called tapetum lucidum. It is a light-reflecting tissue that is often found in other animals such as dogs. Although common, this was the first study to describe the tapetum of the fossilized spider. The discovery made scientists reconsider many other fossilized specimens to find the reflective tissue. The article lastly tells about how the findings highlight gaps in the understanding of spider evolution. Jumping spiders were the next spiders to occupy the area where the Lagonomegopidae lived, however, their eyes were different. Because of this discovery of the glowing eyes on the spider, a new line of research of the evolution of spiders was created.

Cummins’ article brings up the topic of how there are many things to be discovered about the evolution of many animals, including humans. It may seem that the line of development is set, but then a discovery such as the difference between the jumping spiders and Lagonomegopidae made scientists reconsider. If we were to examine more fossils and other parts of ancient animals we would be able to find new additions to the evolution of animals which would significantly impact how our development is seen.

The article was well-written and packed with information that was extremely beneficial to the article. The author’s use of quotes was also helpful as it gave a view from the scientist who found the glowing eyes. However, there was a lot of complex terminologies that were not fully explained and made it more difficult to read the article. Also, if the author added more background information on the topic, it would have been much easier to understand from the beginning.