In the world of phylogenetics, there's team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life—the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly—has stirred fierce debate among ...

Researchers are reporting today that they have used computer simulations to prove an important aspect of evolutionary theory: that complex structures, like an eyeball, can arise through evolution. The ...

Of all the organisms that photosynthesize, land plants have the most complex form. How did this morphology emerge? A team of scientists has taken a deep dive into the evolutionary history of ...

Scientists have discovered evidence that an isolated pocket of complex life may have evolved on Earth more than 2 billion years ago – only to go extinct and take another 1.5 billion years to evolve to ...

A research team including a scientist from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science, Tokyo, Japan, ...

The planet holds countless natural wonders, yet few match the sheer complexity of the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's ...

Researchers find that oxygenation of Earth's surface is key to the evolution of large, complex multicellular organisms. If cells can access oxygen, they get a big metabolic benefit. However, when ...

Microscope image of the multicellular alga Streptosarcina arenaria, another terrestrial alga, which inhabits dry and tropical areas. (scale is 10 µm, corresponding to 0.01 mm). Credit: Tatyana ...