Learn how one-celled organisms, or single-celled organisms, helped build complex life.

A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ancient ...

Dr. Luis Buatois (Ph.D.) traces a series of hexagons with his finger, following the path carved by tiny organisms millions of years ago that have long since left these unique fossils in their wake. It ...

Enzymes originally evolved in high-temperature environments and later adapted to lower temperatures as Earth cooled. Scientists discovered that a key shift in enzyme function occurred over ...

Discover interesting facts about how evolution works, the different patterns that can emerge from evolution, how quickly organisms can evolve, and whether evolution is a random or ordered process When ...

Eons ago, long before T. rex or any other large multicellular life roamed the planet, life on Earth got stuck. After inventing single-celled organisms and teaching them biochemical tricks such as the ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1950 the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi was discussing the possibility of intelligent alien life with his colleagues. If alien ...

Sleep helps even things out. It was Darwin's great insight that natural selection was the primary factor driving the evolution of organisms. His detailed research ultimately lead to the acceptance by ...