Sponges may be ancient, but their timeline has been murky. New research suggests the earliest sponges were soft and ...

New research shows that the earliest sponges were soft bodied and lacked skeletons, explaining why their oldest fossils are ...

The next time you go wild swimming, whether in a lake, river or sea, you are probably sharing the water with one of your tiniest, yet closest relatives. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest ...

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Scientists at MIT have found compelling chemical evidence that Earth’s earliest animals were likely ancient sea sponges.

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 ...

Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia is well known for its collection of fossils from the Ediacaran period—a geologic timespan that predates the Cambrian explosion. An international team ...

Scientists have identified Ikaria wariootia, a tiny, wormlike creature that lived over 555 million years ago, as the earliest known bilaterian — an animal with a front, back, and symmetrical sides.