* Astronomy

For years, geologists have analysed modern microbial mats to decipher how cells functioned as far back as 3 billion years.
Now, researchers have found a way to garner new information from cells by linking the even spacing between the thousands of tiny cones that dot the surfaces of stromatolite-forming microbial mats.
Nutrient-exchanging bacteria grow mostly on moist surfaces and collect dirt and minerals that crystallise over time.
Stromatolites are the bacteria that turn to stone just beneath the crystallised material, thereby recording their history within the crystalline skeletons.
They are considered to be the oldest fossils on Earth with patterns that also appear in cross-sectional slices of stromatolites that are 2.8 billion years old - to photosynthesis.
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Fossils show earliest animal trails

Trails found in rocks dating back 565 million years are thought to be the earliest evidence of animal locomotion ever found.
The newly-discovered fossils, from rocks in Newfoundland in Canada, were analysed by an international team led by Oxford University scientists. They identified over 70 fossilised trails indicating that some ancient creatures moved, in a similar way to modern sea anemones, across the seafloors of the Ediacaran Period.
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Geologist analyses earliest shell-covered fossil animals
The fossil remains of some of the first animals with shells, ocean-dwelling creatures that measure a few centimetres in length and date to about 520 million years ago, provide a window on evolution at this time, according to scientists. Their research indicates that these animals were larger than previously thought.
John Moore, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth Science at UC Santa Barbara, and his collaborators, analysed fossils from the epoch called the Early Cambrian. During this important time in the history of the earth, there was a tremendous diversification of animal life in the oceans. Many of the major animal groups that are still alive today appeared at this time, as well as many unusual groups that went extinct. In particular, the Cambrian marked the first widespread occurrence of animals with shells or other hard parts. Many of these early animals had complex external armours containing dozens to thousands of tiny pieces. When the animals died, the armour fell apart. From the resulting jumbled puzzle pieces, Moore and his research team discerned what the animals were like, and how they are related to other animals.

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Humans might not be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, research has found. By comparing proteins present in more than 3000 different prokaryotes - a type of single-celled organism without a nucleus - molecular biologist James A. Lake from the University of California at Los Angeles' Centre for Astrobiology showed that two major classes of relatively simple microbes fused together more than 2.5 billion years ago. Lake's NASA-funded research reveals a new pathway for the evolution of life on Earth.

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