Ancient Fish With Strong Jawline Could Rewrite History Of Faces

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A reconstruction of Entelognathus primordialis, with the fossil find highlighted above.

Nature

As faces go, Entelognathus primordialis isn't much to look at, even for a fish.

But consider that the 419 million-year-old, armor-plated fish is the earliest known creature to have what humans might recognize as a face, according to research published Wednesday in Nature. That's mostly due to its bony, modern jaw.

As USA Today reports:

"The first Entelognathus fossil was unearthed in China in 2010, but it was not until scientists had chipped away at the specimen in the lab that they realized they were onto something very weird. Their new fish looked like a placoderm, an ancient swimmer girded in homegrown armor made of bony plates. The fish, described in this week's issue of Nature, had small, almost immobile eyes and a flat forehead. And then there was its lower face: a jigsaw puzzle of interlocking bones a lot like humans. It's a homely ancient fish with a supermodel's bone structure."

The question of when fish first sported bony jaws — and therefore a mug that we can all recognize — is something scientists have spent time wondering about. And the latest findings may upend our understanding of how jawed vertebrates evolved.

Entelognathus belongs to the placoderm class of armored fish that Nature says existed some 430 million to 360 million years ago. Placoderms, it adds, "had a bony skull and jaw, but most of them had simple beak-like jaws built out of bone plates."

The recently unearthed fossil has scientists excited because, as Smithsonian.com points out, "it combines a series of characteristics from two different groups: placoderms ... and bony fish, a lineage that gave rise to all modern fish with jaws and bone skeletons. Previously, it was assumed that placoderms died out completely (and that the other, more recent types of fish with similar armor plating had independently re-evolved it much later), while a different, shark-like group of fish called acanthodians led to the bony fishes."

Smithsonian adds:

"This is significant because of what happened next: bony fish gave rise to all modern vertebrate fish, along with all amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including ourselves. In other words, this fossil might mean that the placoderms didn't go extinct, but rather evolved into the tremendous diversity of animals that live on both land and sea — and that this ancient, strange-looking face belongs to one of your oldest ancestors."

Accessible Designs Could Help Us All — But Only If Firms Bite

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Alex Blaszczuk used Google Glass to shoot this self portait.

Courtesy of Alex Blaszczuk

Here are the basics about Alex Blaszczuk: She lives in Manhattan. She's 26. She has a 20 pound cat. She's a third year law student at Columbia University. And about 18 months ago she broke her neck.

Blaszczuk sometimes jokes that she wishes she'd done it bungee jumping. At least then she says she would have a better story.

"It was interesting. In the rehab floor I was on, I was the only woman because everyone is usually injured doing some kind of fun, extreme sport or diving," she says.

Blaszczuk was rear-ended by a car.

Spinal injuries are quirky. And in many ways, Blaszczuk says she's lucky. She isn't on a ventilator. She can move her shoulders. Still, the accident left her unable to do some of things she used to take for granted — things she loved, like taking pictures, turning the pages of her law school text books, writing with a pen, walking.

"I'm not that techie, but I have a lot of friends who are, and especially since my injury I feel like I get 15 e-mails a day that are like 'Have you heard about this crazy new thing that might help you?' " Blaszczuk says.

Many new technologies today promise to give us all superhero-like powers. We live in a world where endless facts and figures are at our fingertips. Self-driving cars promise that soon even your spouse could have an unerring sense of direction.

For the disabled, this kind personal, high-tech augmentation could open up new worlds — but only if the technologies are designed to be accessible. And many companies have yet to embrace the commercial opportunities.

Still, for Blaszczuk, technology has at times been liberating, like when she got an iPhone.

"It opened the world for me because the touch screen technology is the only way I read books, the only way I read anything," she says.

Touch screens and voice controls have allowed her to continue working toward a law degree. Next year, these devices will help make her legal practice possible.

Apple has made a huge effort to make all of its products from the smallest iPod nano to the Mac accessible. And for Blaszczuk, that's made an enormous difference.

When Google started selling Google Glass to a select few "explorers," Blaszczuk's friends came over and insisted she try to get a pair. And she did.

"Right after I got it, I went to London," Blaszczuk says. "I went for a wedding, and I actually caught the bouquet. I had Google Glass on, and the bouquet landed in my lap." She filmed the entire thing.

The voice activated controls have allowed Blaszczuk to start taking pictures again. She filmed a what she called a "rolling" tour of Brooklyn. Google encouraged her to take Glass on a camping trip.