For decades, scientists have puzzled over a significant gap in the fossil record of Earth's earliest animals, with genetic ...

Earth’s first sponges may have been ghostly, soft-bodied pioneers—ancient animals that evolved long before their skeletons ...

Scientists refine the timeline of sponge origins, showing soft-bodied ancestors likely evolved later than some chemical ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Bressan is a geologist who covers curiosities about Earth.

After studying rocks more than 541 million years old, MIT scientists have found new evidence that some of Earth’s first ...

The study, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), sheds new light on one of science’s most enduring questions: what did the first animals on Earth truly look ...

Sponges are among Earth's most ancient animals, but exactly when they evolved has long puzzled scientists. Genetic ...