The digital present and future of paleontology
At the time of a partial loss of interest in fundamental science by society, one still wants to dream about the future of science, namely paleontology in the future, if, of course, our civilization does not burn out in a nuclear fire in the next decade.
Paleontology is the science of fossil organisms, a relatively young discipline, originating as an independent discipline, from the works of European scientists in the first half of the 19th century. Like any science, paleontology has developed and is developing, has received a huge evidence base for evolutionary teachings. Thanks to paleontology, a geochronological scale was created and we became aware of the staged development of life on the planet.
Life story. Source ru.wikipedia.org
Over the past 20 years, with the rapid development of digital technology and the Internet, paleontologists have received previously unthinkable opportunities for research and information exchange. Thanks to this, the main trends in the development of paleontology and evolutionary biology have been outlined, which I want to talk about.
In general, we need to start with the fact that the development of science goes along the path of finding and solving problems. This is logical and, by the way, is one of the differences from paranoscience and pseudoscience, where the problem, as a rule, either does not exist or the solution absolutely contradicts the laws of logic and rationality.
There are a lot of scientific, unsolved problems in paleontology. The main, so to speak, global tasks can be described by the following list.
1. The emergence of life.This problem, of course, is not completely resolved. There are two main theories: abiogenesis and panspermia . The first, claims about the abiotic chemical origin of life from inanimate (where this line is also unclear) substance, the second about bringing life to Earth from Space. The second theory also has an evidence base, but gives more questions than answers. Hundreds, if not thousands of scientific works have been written about the origin of life, and this can be talked about for hours, so let us dwell on the fact that this most important task is still waiting for its unique solution.
Art reconstruction of the primary Earth: meteorites, the ancient ocean with primary broth .
2. Global extinctions.The last two decades, interest in these phenomena has increased significantly in the scientific community. After the sensational work of Luis and Walter Alvarez on the meteorite cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction and the publication of the famous J. Sepkoski databaseThe analysis of which made it possible to single out the main stages of the extinctions of the organic world in the Phanerozoic eon, the scientific community has embarked on a search for the causes of mass extinctions. Now there are a large number of ambiguous hypotheses: about the cycles of our system passing through areas of the galaxy that are destroying all living things, about death due to supernova explosions, about strong volcanism (this is confirmed for Perm extinction), etc. There is a well-developed theory about the biotic causes of mass extinctions, developed by domestic paleontologists. There are also complex models that include a large number of factors that are interconnected with each other and explain these phenomena. But, there is no unambiguous theory with which the vast majority of researchers would agree.
Schedule of extinction of marine fauna during the Phanerozoic. Built thanks to the analysis of the J. Sepkoski database. Source ru.wikipedia.org
3. Ways of evolution. An important enough problem. Since the publication of the works of C. Darwin, evolutionary biology has stepped far forward. This is a rather complex, voluminous teaching, which has an unshakable evidence base. But of course, there is no general, simple concept, a certain theory of everything, explaining completely and completely the laws and causes. The main problem is that the evolution of the organic world is known to us only in a single copy on our planet and we simply have nothing to compare with.
The evolutionary hominid tree. Source humanorigins.si.edu
4. General systematics of the organic world.At this time, there is no general systematics of the organic world that would satisfy all researchers and reflect the phylogeny of all groups. Starting with the fact that there are many approaches to the implementation of the construction of taxonomies (morphological, molecular, etc.), ending with the main question - how much does the existence of taxa in living nature correspond to reality? Where is the exact line between species, how integral are taxa of a higher rank. These are very complex questions that require a coherent and unambiguous answer.
One of the modern cladograms (essentially phylogenetic schemes) of the organic world. Source ru.wikipedia.org
There are still many important global issues, such as the causes of the Cambrian explosion, the systematic position of the organic world of Vendian, the great oxygen extinction in the Archean, the evolution of man and consciousness, etc., requiring additional research and more definite answers.
Let's dream with you about the possible future of paleontology and evolutionary biology, which, gradually, fortunately, is coming and what approaches are being applied to this.
The first, most important task is the development of online libraries. All, absolutely all scientific literature must be digitized. GOOGLE Corporation is making great efforts for this, for which the whole world is partially grateful to it, but, as a rule, the existence of copyright from publishers is a hindrance to this process. In particular, publishers that provide access to resources only on a paid basis. All scientific literature must and must be free. Many researchers share with other reprints of articles by electronic correspondence or post them on their websites, but in any case it is impossible to get access to all digitized articles and works. Also, many libraries are against the digitization of their books, based on the fact that in fact they will remain without work if the literature is available in electronic form. This, of course, is true but progress and accessibility are still more important than the opinions of libraries. This is my personal opinion, which copyright defenders will certainly not agree with. In the Russian Internet sector, there are only a dozen sites where the authors of the resources have collected and made publicly available digitalized scientific literature on paleontology. Perhaps the two main resources are worth mentioning, namelysite of the famous paleontologist, popularizer of science A.V. Markov and the site of the staff of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The second, most important task is the complete digitization of typical series of paleontological material stored in the collections of museums and institutes of the World, as well as the creation of virtual museums, with online access. This will be a major milestone in the development of paleontology. Just think, any paleontologist anywhere in the world will be able to access specimens for research, consider in detail the structure and so on. Modern technologies already allow you to create high-quality 3D models without resorting to the use of expensive 3D scanners, but using only a number of overlapping photos. The development and accessibility of 3D printing will allow you to quickly and accurately print fossil models for further work. So far, such resources are very rare and can be listed on the fingers. Here are the most obvious ones: 3dmuseum.org, www.3d-fossils.ac.uk , palbio.ru/modeling .
The third task, which is unlikely to be solved in the next decade, is the creation of a global database of fossil organisms up to taxa of the species and subspecies level. Both whole organizations and individual researchers are involved in solving this difficult task. Thus, the creation of the well-known database of J. Sepkoski strata.geology.wisc.edu/jack , which includes 36,000 genera of fossil animals of the Phanerozoic, was a breakthrough for research. An analysis of this base made it possible to establish many regularities and stages in the development of the organic world on Earth. There is still a very famous project paleobiodb.org- A database of fossil specimens from collections of scientific collections. A huge volume database, which is a collective project of researchers, which has a great future. But, unfortunately, the factor of error and subjectivity of the definition of the material is working against us here. Of course, given the gigantic volume, it can be neglected, but the result of the analysis of such databases is accurate only in a first approximation.
The fourth, in my opinion, important task is the creation of highly specialized software for paleontologists and evolutionary biologists, which allow you to quickly process data. And it is sorely lacking. Only in the last couple of years, projects began to appear devoted to the development of applications for this discipline. For example, a well-known application in the scientific community for correlation and creation of stratigraphic scalesTimeScale Creator . Many development applications are needed for modeling evolutionary processes, analyzing the morphology and geochronological distribution of groups.
The fifth task is the creation of expert systems, determinants capable of self-learning. In fact, the introduction of AI into paleontology. A more precise definition and a decrease in subjectivity are the main principles of this process. Unfortunately, I cannot give well-known examples of such systems in paleontology ...
In fact, there are still many IT sub-tasks that will allow researchers to conduct more thorough and detailed studies, increase the number of discoveries, and the wonderful works of science fiction writer and paleontologist I. A. come to mind. Efremov, in which he dreamed about the future of this interesting science, which revealed many secrets about our past.
Portrait of Ivan Antonovich Efremov painted by Boris Olshansky.
Paleontology is the science of fossil organisms, a relatively young discipline, originating as an independent discipline, from the works of European scientists in the first half of the 19th century. Like any science, paleontology has developed and is developing, has received a huge evidence base for evolutionary teachings. Thanks to paleontology, a geochronological scale was created and we became aware of the staged development of life on the planet.
Life story. Source ru.wikipedia.org
Over the past 20 years, with the rapid development of digital technology and the Internet, paleontologists have received previously unthinkable opportunities for research and information exchange. Thanks to this, the main trends in the development of paleontology and evolutionary biology have been outlined, which I want to talk about.
In general, we need to start with the fact that the development of science goes along the path of finding and solving problems. This is logical and, by the way, is one of the differences from paranoscience and pseudoscience, where the problem, as a rule, either does not exist or the solution absolutely contradicts the laws of logic and rationality.
There are a lot of scientific, unsolved problems in paleontology. The main, so to speak, global tasks can be described by the following list.
1. The emergence of life.This problem, of course, is not completely resolved. There are two main theories: abiogenesis and panspermia . The first, claims about the abiotic chemical origin of life from inanimate (where this line is also unclear) substance, the second about bringing life to Earth from Space. The second theory also has an evidence base, but gives more questions than answers. Hundreds, if not thousands of scientific works have been written about the origin of life, and this can be talked about for hours, so let us dwell on the fact that this most important task is still waiting for its unique solution.
Art reconstruction of the primary Earth: meteorites, the ancient ocean with primary broth .
2. Global extinctions.The last two decades, interest in these phenomena has increased significantly in the scientific community. After the sensational work of Luis and Walter Alvarez on the meteorite cause of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction and the publication of the famous J. Sepkoski databaseThe analysis of which made it possible to single out the main stages of the extinctions of the organic world in the Phanerozoic eon, the scientific community has embarked on a search for the causes of mass extinctions. Now there are a large number of ambiguous hypotheses: about the cycles of our system passing through areas of the galaxy that are destroying all living things, about death due to supernova explosions, about strong volcanism (this is confirmed for Perm extinction), etc. There is a well-developed theory about the biotic causes of mass extinctions, developed by domestic paleontologists. There are also complex models that include a large number of factors that are interconnected with each other and explain these phenomena. But, there is no unambiguous theory with which the vast majority of researchers would agree.
Schedule of extinction of marine fauna during the Phanerozoic. Built thanks to the analysis of the J. Sepkoski database. Source ru.wikipedia.org
3. Ways of evolution. An important enough problem. Since the publication of the works of C. Darwin, evolutionary biology has stepped far forward. This is a rather complex, voluminous teaching, which has an unshakable evidence base. But of course, there is no general, simple concept, a certain theory of everything, explaining completely and completely the laws and causes. The main problem is that the evolution of the organic world is known to us only in a single copy on our planet and we simply have nothing to compare with.
The evolutionary hominid tree. Source humanorigins.si.edu
4. General systematics of the organic world.At this time, there is no general systematics of the organic world that would satisfy all researchers and reflect the phylogeny of all groups. Starting with the fact that there are many approaches to the implementation of the construction of taxonomies (morphological, molecular, etc.), ending with the main question - how much does the existence of taxa in living nature correspond to reality? Where is the exact line between species, how integral are taxa of a higher rank. These are very complex questions that require a coherent and unambiguous answer.
One of the modern cladograms (essentially phylogenetic schemes) of the organic world. Source ru.wikipedia.org
There are still many important global issues, such as the causes of the Cambrian explosion, the systematic position of the organic world of Vendian, the great oxygen extinction in the Archean, the evolution of man and consciousness, etc., requiring additional research and more definite answers.
Let's dream with you about the possible future of paleontology and evolutionary biology, which, gradually, fortunately, is coming and what approaches are being applied to this.
The first, most important task is the development of online libraries. All, absolutely all scientific literature must be digitized. GOOGLE Corporation is making great efforts for this, for which the whole world is partially grateful to it, but, as a rule, the existence of copyright from publishers is a hindrance to this process. In particular, publishers that provide access to resources only on a paid basis. All scientific literature must and must be free. Many researchers share with other reprints of articles by electronic correspondence or post them on their websites, but in any case it is impossible to get access to all digitized articles and works. Also, many libraries are against the digitization of their books, based on the fact that in fact they will remain without work if the literature is available in electronic form. This, of course, is true but progress and accessibility are still more important than the opinions of libraries. This is my personal opinion, which copyright defenders will certainly not agree with. In the Russian Internet sector, there are only a dozen sites where the authors of the resources have collected and made publicly available digitalized scientific literature on paleontology. Perhaps the two main resources are worth mentioning, namelysite of the famous paleontologist, popularizer of science A.V. Markov and the site of the staff of the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The second, most important task is the complete digitization of typical series of paleontological material stored in the collections of museums and institutes of the World, as well as the creation of virtual museums, with online access. This will be a major milestone in the development of paleontology. Just think, any paleontologist anywhere in the world will be able to access specimens for research, consider in detail the structure and so on. Modern technologies already allow you to create high-quality 3D models without resorting to the use of expensive 3D scanners, but using only a number of overlapping photos. The development and accessibility of 3D printing will allow you to quickly and accurately print fossil models for further work. So far, such resources are very rare and can be listed on the fingers. Here are the most obvious ones: 3dmuseum.org, www.3d-fossils.ac.uk , palbio.ru/modeling .
The third task, which is unlikely to be solved in the next decade, is the creation of a global database of fossil organisms up to taxa of the species and subspecies level. Both whole organizations and individual researchers are involved in solving this difficult task. Thus, the creation of the well-known database of J. Sepkoski strata.geology.wisc.edu/jack , which includes 36,000 genera of fossil animals of the Phanerozoic, was a breakthrough for research. An analysis of this base made it possible to establish many regularities and stages in the development of the organic world on Earth. There is still a very famous project paleobiodb.org- A database of fossil specimens from collections of scientific collections. A huge volume database, which is a collective project of researchers, which has a great future. But, unfortunately, the factor of error and subjectivity of the definition of the material is working against us here. Of course, given the gigantic volume, it can be neglected, but the result of the analysis of such databases is accurate only in a first approximation.
The fourth, in my opinion, important task is the creation of highly specialized software for paleontologists and evolutionary biologists, which allow you to quickly process data. And it is sorely lacking. Only in the last couple of years, projects began to appear devoted to the development of applications for this discipline. For example, a well-known application in the scientific community for correlation and creation of stratigraphic scalesTimeScale Creator . Many development applications are needed for modeling evolutionary processes, analyzing the morphology and geochronological distribution of groups.
The fifth task is the creation of expert systems, determinants capable of self-learning. In fact, the introduction of AI into paleontology. A more precise definition and a decrease in subjectivity are the main principles of this process. Unfortunately, I cannot give well-known examples of such systems in paleontology ...
In fact, there are still many IT sub-tasks that will allow researchers to conduct more thorough and detailed studies, increase the number of discoveries, and the wonderful works of science fiction writer and paleontologist I. A. come to mind. Efremov, in which he dreamed about the future of this interesting science, which revealed many secrets about our past.
Portrait of Ivan Antonovich Efremov painted by Boris Olshansky.