Exceptionally preserved fossils from the Ediacaran period challenge what scientists thought was possible in sandstone. In the fossil record, creatures without hard shells or skeletons, such as ...

The evolution of some of the earliest complex animals on our planet may have been spurred on by other, simpler early animals. These simple marine animals first evolved around 560 million years ago and ...

Charles Darwin worried that the fossil record looked strangely abrupt, with complex animals appearing in a geological instant ...

Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest molluscs were flat, armoured slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata was covered with hollow, organic, ...

This 30-million-year-long gap is actually rather helpful to Darwin. It means that there was plenty of time for the ancestor ...

How does rapid burial work? New insights from experiments with echinoderms. Burial is a critical factor in the preservation of most fossils, keeping scavengers away and preventing the disarticulation ...

Some animals have been around since the time of the dinosaurs—and they’re still thriving today! Known as “living fossils,” these creatures have barely changed over millions of years and continue to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Here's why Dickinsonia challenges our previously held ...

Fossils are the remains or traces left behind by life forms that existed long ago and are normally found in sedimentary rocks. They are usually very small, like micro shells or pollen, and sometimes ...