Chris Kempes

And what's interesting is that pushes single-cell organisms to get bigger, and it pushes these spherical multicellular organisms to get smaller. Wait a minute. You've got to explain that. Yeah. So what's happening is the metabolic rate is decreasing.

And what's interesting is that pushes single-cell organisms to get bigger, and it pushes these spherical multicellular organisms to get smaller. Wait a minute. You've got to explain that. Yeah. So what's happening is the metabolic rate is decreasing.

And so it allows these single cell organisms to live the same lifestyle as sort of a larger size because they sort of don't have as much metabolic demand because everything is slower. And then these spherical organisms, as temperature decreases, they're facing increased viscosity, right? And so their life is a little harder for hunting. And so that's sort of pushing them to be smaller.

And so it allows these single cell organisms to live the same lifestyle as sort of a larger size because they sort of don't have as much metabolic demand because everything is slower. And then these spherical organisms, as temperature decreases, they're facing increased viscosity, right? And so their life is a little harder for hunting. And so that's sort of pushing them to be smaller.

But then as the nutrients plummet, as the sort of total biomass starts going down, this pushes the multicellular organisms to get bigger and the single cell organisms to get smaller. And that's mostly a hunting effect of sort of gathering resources effect for the large spherical things. And so we think... this snowball pushes your multicellular organisms to get much bigger.

But then as the nutrients plummet, as the sort of total biomass starts going down, this pushes the multicellular organisms to get bigger and the single cell organisms to get smaller. And that's mostly a hunting effect of sort of gathering resources effect for the large spherical things. And so we think... this snowball pushes your multicellular organisms to get much bigger.

And as you start to get much bigger, you start to run into other physical constraints that would induce sort of more complicated geometries. And as you start to develop these complicated geometries, you start to discover things like sponges, we think. And then you find this multicellular architecture that's really stable and really beneficial. And when the world thaws out, you keep it.

And as you start to get much bigger, you start to run into other physical constraints that would induce sort of more complicated geometries. And as you start to develop these complicated geometries, you start to discover things like sponges, we think. And then you find this multicellular architecture that's really stable and really beneficial. And when the world thaws out, you keep it.

You keep these multicellulars around.

You keep these multicellulars around.

Exactly. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Exactly. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

Exactly. I think that's a new innovation. And you can imagine in a simple way why differentiation, what the calculus is of whether that's beneficial. So imagine I'm a sponge and I say, well... I have some reproductive cells and they, they sort of do the, you know, the reproductive bit of, of me and I have to grow and then I need things to feed that growth. Okay.

Exactly. I think that's a new innovation. And you can imagine in a simple way why differentiation, what the calculus is of whether that's beneficial. So imagine I'm a sponge and I say, well... I have some reproductive cells and they, they sort of do the, you know, the reproductive bit of, of me and I have to grow and then I need things to feed that growth. Okay.

So now imagine I'm building a bigger, bigger internal sponge volume. And I just asked the question, if I add

So now imagine I'm building a bigger, bigger internal sponge volume. And I just asked the question, if I add

a little differentiated cell that has cilia on the outside that drives fluid flow through the inside of me through these filters where I can capture prey and then eventually digest them do I get a return on investment for that you know every time I add one of these little cells with these little cilia which are just hairs that that move water um Is it beneficial to my total metabolism?

a little differentiated cell that has cilia on the outside that drives fluid flow through the inside of me through these filters where I can capture prey and then eventually digest them do I get a return on investment for that you know every time I add one of these little cells with these little cilia which are just hairs that that move water um Is it beneficial to my total metabolism?

And so that's a case where, you know, maybe I have a few of those, maybe we're all that cell type. And then I say, okay, I make one of us reproductive and I keep all the other as sort of these gathering cells. Yeah. Now the reproductive cell doesn't have to keep around all these cilia, which it's not using, that's expensive. So I've differentiated to this one feature.

And so that's a case where, you know, maybe I have a few of those, maybe we're all that cell type. And then I say, okay, I make one of us reproductive and I keep all the other as sort of these gathering cells. Yeah. Now the reproductive cell doesn't have to keep around all these cilia, which it's not using, that's expensive. So I've differentiated to this one feature.