Who came first – sponges or comb jellies? A new study reaffirms that sponges are the oldest animal phylum – and restores the classical view of early animal evolution, which recent molecular analyses ...

Nearly 30 years ago, a research vessel off the southeast coast of Australia dragged up samples of the sea floor from depths of 400m and 1000m. Hidden away within the samples were a few unexpected gems ...

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A newly discovered phylum of Archaea, Brockarchaeota, can break down plant and organic matter without releasing methane. An international collaboration between scientists based in the USA and China, ...

Genome sequencing has revealed that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a major evolutionary process in bacteria. Although it is generally assumed that closely related organisms engage in genetic ...