Humans are captivated by the idea of finding life elsewhere in the universe – and even more by the idea that life, if found, might resemble the complex, animal life here on Earth. One of the easiest ...

Newfound fossils from China suggest that complex animals were around millions of years earlier than thought, among them possibly our vertebrate ancestors.

A sweeping genetic study of over 150 species reveals that life’s move from water to land was not a single story, but a series ...

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 ...

In a discovery that reshapes our understanding of life’s origins, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found new evidence suggesting that the first animals on Earth were ...

Embryonic germ layers are the fundamental organizing principle in animal development. They provide the structural basis from which tissues and organs arise. During early embryogenesis, cells divide to ...