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In Depth: The Chinese Team Rewriting the Story of Early Evolution

By Huang Yanhao and Kelly Wang
2025年01月17日 15:09
A study of tiny algae-like fossils is challenging the idea that multicellular life only emerged 1 billion years ago, pushing back the timeline by hundreds of millions of years
The Qingshania magnifica microfossils. Photo: Provided by the interviewee

For decades, scientists have believed that after simple, single-celled organisms dominated early life on Earth for billions of years, creatures with multiple cells emerged roughly 1 billion years ago.

But a study of ancient microfossils by Chinese scientists could rewrite the story of early evolution — pushing the timeline of multicellular life back by 600 million years.

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