TECH Signal 324
Oxford-led search in Svalbard targets 1.7-billion-year-old microfossils to trace eukaryote origins
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Paleontologist Ross Anderson and colleagues are examining ancient rocks in Svalbard, Norway, and building on recent Australian discoveries to find microfossils that could clarify when and how eukaryotes, the first complex cells, appeared on Earth.
Eukaryotes are the foundation of all complex life: every animal, plant, and fungus today is eukaryotic, yet their origins remain poorly understood because organisms older than 500 million years lacked shells or skeletons that fossilize readily. Reconstructing this transition could also inform whether complex life might develop elsewhere in the universe.
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Eukaryotes had appeared by at least 1.7 billion years ago, and researchers are searching a roughly 100 sq km region near Svalbard, Norway, for microfossils from that era.
Organisms older than 500 million years lacked hard structures, so paleontologists must rely on rare environments capable of preserving fragile cells and soft tissues.
Researchers in Australia discovered some of the oldest known eukaryotic microfossils last year, complementing the Svalbard search.
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