On Friday 8 March, Year 12 Earth and Environmental Science students were visited by Ms Marissa Betts, a PhD student from Macquarie University. Her research involves the study of the transition between Precambrian and Cambrian life forms. Presently, the boys are studying a unit of work which features the ‘Cambrian Explosion’, one of the most evolutionary significant events in the history of life on Earth.

Prior to the Cambrian, all life forms were soft-bodied. Among the most prominent of these are the Ediacaran Metazoans, jellyfish-like organisms found in few places globally, and in Australia, almost exclusively in the Ediacara Hills of the Flinders Ranges, in South Australia. Ms Betts’ fossil samples from the Flinders Ranges were brought in, and provided the boys with an invaluable opportunity for discussion on these life forms. Various samples from the Cambrian period were also available for the boys to observe and photograph.

We were indeed very lucky to have an expert on this exciting and particular field of Palaeontology come and deliver an interactive and engaging talk which will surely place our boys above the rest in Earth and Environmental Science.

Maz Bustamante
Earth & Environmental Science Teacher