Tiny honeycomb-like colonies from southern China have opened a long-running gap in the story of animal life. For decades, ...

In hidden cavities beneath the floor of the deep ocean, in the oases created by hydrothermal activity, whole communities of multicellular animals are living their best lives down in the darkness. The ...

A remarkable fossil discovery in southwest China is rewriting the story of how complex animal life began, showing that many key animal groups appeared millions of years earlier than scientists once ...

Ancient animal history is extremely difficult to reconstruct, for a number of reasons. Some of the earliest creatures in existence were soft-bodied and microscopic, leaving behind very little evidence ...

The remarkable discovery of animal life beneath the seafloor shows that life finds a way even in the most extreme environments, potentially boosting hopes for finding life beyond Earth. Reading time 4 ...

A remarkable discovery of a fossil "treasure trove" in China has pushed back the origins of animals at least four million years. The find, described as "exciting" by researchers, includes the remains ...

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 ...

A huge and beautifully preserved suite of fossils discovered in China has cast doubt on the idea that complex life flourished dramatically during a rapid burst of evolution known as the Cambrian ...

This November 2023 photo provided by Gaorong Li shows a Haootia-like fossil at Yunnan University in Kunming, China. (Gaorong Li via AP) WASHINGTON — Newly discovered fossils have given scientists ...