Scientists from the University of Bath (United States) come up with new evidence, which seem to confirm a new law of evolution: organisms evolve in general to an increasing complexity. Of course, such a law of evolution would seem logical if we accept the premise that life began in simple forms.
As simply as that, in this case it can only be one direction in evolution: towards a higher complexity. However, nothing prevents the bodies to return to a simpler form, once a degree of complexity has been reached. Let us not forget that all bodies which have evolved and survived until today, are complex. Bacteria for example, are simple forms of life, but they have adapted very well in today's complex environment.
Of course, there are no rules without exceptions. An example is bodies living in habitats such as isolated marine caves. They seem to regress in their evolution towards complexity. Another example is some species of parasites.
The fossils of the Cambrian have a high level of complexity, in the layers of Cambrian, fossils being found easily.They are very numerous and very diversified. Cambrian fauna includes representatives of all major groups of invertebrates, that still exists today. Species alive today are easily recognizable, with all their characters, once they are met in the strata in which they were fossilized.
Cambrian strata are exposing a sudden explosion of species. As the Cambrian strata are examined, strata which are known to be the oldest containing fossil, we discover that many marine species have existed at the time, very clearly differentiated from one another. The world of that time was as complex as that of today. Some forms are different from those of today, while others are very similar, and in some cases, even identical. In the latter category are blue algae, sponges and marine worms, for example.
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