Recently in the Fossils Category

Researchers from the Early Life Traces & Evolution Laboratory (Astrobiology / Faculty of Science) at the University of Liège have discovered the first in-situ evidence of chlorophyll remnants in a billion-year-old multicellular algal microfossil preserved in shales from the Congo Basin.

Many scientists consider the "Cambrian explosion" -- which occurred about 530-540 million years ago -- as the first major appearance of many of the world's animal groups in the fossil record.

While Earth may have been a habitable planet long before the Paleoarchean Era [3.6 to 3.2 billion years ago (Ga)], as rocks of this age retain a diversity of fossil evidence for life the complexity of life's cellular constituents, range of metabolic pathways, the niches it occupied locally, and global diversity of its habitats remain largely unknown.

All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed. A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.

A large group of iconic fossils widely believed to shed light on the origins of many of Earth's animals and the communities they lived in may be hiding a secret.

Fifty-six million years ago, as the Earth's climate warmed by five to eight degrees C, new land mammals evolved, tropical forests expanded, giant insects and reptiles appeared and the chemistry of the ocean changed.

The discovery could be the "missing link" in the evolution of animals, according to the team, which included scientists from the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia.

A billion year old fossil, which provides a new link in the evolution of animals, has been discovered in the Scottish Highlands.

For most of Earth's history, life was limited to the microscopic realm, with bacteria occupying nearly every possible niche.

If you could dive down to the ocean floor nearly 540 million years ago just past the point where waves begin to break, you would find an explosion of life--scores of worm-like animals and other sea creatures tunneling complex holes and structures in the mud and sand--where before the environment had been mostly barren.