The Grand Canyon is undeniably a wonder of nature – and according to a new paper from a team of palaeontologists and geologists, it always has been. Half a billion years ago, long before humans were around to gape in awe or plummet to their selfie-related deaths, the canyon was apparently a hub of biodiversity – an evolutionary “Goldilocks zone”, the team write, filled with organisms boasting weird and wonderful adaptations for life.

And they’re really hoping you’ll concentrate on that , rather than what the IFLScience team noticed when we first saw this paper.

Two words: penis worm.

A world of weird

Okay, “penis worm” is underselling it. In fact, the Grand Canyon was something of a treasure trove of well-preserved fossils, with the team uncovering more than 1,500 Cambrian-era worms,

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