Tag: Fossil record
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Extreme Red Sea Desiccation 6.2 Million Years Ago Revealed
Ancient Drying of the Red Sea: A Prehistoric Desert Reborn New research reveals an astonishing chapter in Earth’s history: about 6.2 million years ago, the Red Sea basin dried completely, turning a once liquid valley into a vast, salty desert. This extreme environmental event ended with a rapid reflood from the Indian Ocean, leaving a…
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Sea Sponges: Earth’s First Animals—Ancient Origins
Sea Sponges: Earth’s First Animals — New clues from ancient rocks In a study highlighted by scientists today, MIT geochemists report new evidence from some of the planet’s oldest rocks that suggests the ancestors of modern sea sponges could be among the first animals to emerge on Earth. The findings, published in the Proceedings of…
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Ancient Sea Sponges: Earth’s First Animals Revealed by MIT
Overview A new study from researchers at MIT in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds a provocative twist to the story of life on Earth. The team argues that some of the very first animals may have been ancestors of the modern sea sponge, a line of inquiry that could push back…
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Million-Year-Old Skull Could Alter the Timeline of Human Evolution
A skull that could rewrite human history A digital reconstruction of a shattered skull unearthed in China in 1990, nicknamed Yunxian 2, is challenging long-held ideas about when and where humans split from their ancient relatives. Previously classified as Homo erectus, the fossil now appears to share features with later relatives such as Homo longi…