10 Most Important Scientific Discoveries Of 2019
3. One Of The Earliest Examples Of Evolution Was Discovered
Scientists have been studying the Theory of Evolution ever since Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the idea, but time has limits on what we can see in terms of the earliest examples of evolution. Previously, fossilized examples of transitional species have been identified to a period long before the dinosaurs existed, but going back much further has been difficult.
A recent discovery made by Chinese scientists has pushed the clock back to 609 million years ago, thanks to a finding in South China's Guizhou Province. The rocks that were studied contained a fossilized species of Caveasphaera, a multicellular organism, which doesn't easily fit into the definition of animal or non-animal.
Caveasphaera is a strange organism, and it is believed that the discovery showcases an early example of the differences in the development of single-cell and multicellular stages. This finding represents an essential step in animal evolution, namely, the ability to develop tissue layers and organs, and it is one of the earliest-known examples of evidence of this ability.