The Monitor Daily

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Precisely what is Administration Buyback? Feb 12, 2020
  • Precisely what is Administration Buyback? Feb 12, 2020
  • Where by do Registered requests get kept Dec 1, 2019
  • Find a Star of the event on the Submit Purchase New bride List May 19, 2019
  • Locate Really enjoy On the internet Apr 30, 2019
  • Get Love On the net Apr 12, 2019
  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018

The Sea Sponge is the First Animal on Earth

By Leave a Comment

sea sponge

The sea sponge is the first animal on Earth according to MIT scientists who recently published a research paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The sea sponge is the first animal on Earth according to MIT scientists who recently published a research paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lead author of the paper, David Gold who is a postdoc in the Department of Earth at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a series of genetic tests to understand pre-Cambrian evolution. The results of the tests suggest that molecules which are produced by the plain sea sponge are present in rocks that are 640 million years old. Thus, the sea sponge would be the world’s oldest animal to date.

During the Cambrian era a booming evolution process was experienced on our planet. 540 million years ago marked the beginning of the Cambrian era and the emergence of animal organisms on the planet. From here onwards, unicellular organisms developed into multicellular organisms at a rapid pace. The trove of fossils from this period offers a great variety of clues as to an evolution timeline.

However, the pre-Cambrian era is little understood. Now, thanks to the MIT scientific team working with the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, the sea sponge is in the spotlight. David Gold explained:

“We brought together paleontological and genetic evidence to make a pretty strong case that this really is a molecular fossil of sponges. This is some of the oldest evidence for animal life.”

A recent scientific debate asked whether the sea sponge or the comb jelly are the world’s oldest animal. The evidence brought forth by David Gold and MIT professor Roger Summons tilts the balance in the favor of the sea sponge. How did the MIT scientific team come to the conclusion that the sea sponge is the first animal on Earth?

Paleontological evidence in the form of 640 million-year-old rocks was first brought to analysis. Some of these ancient rocks contain high levels of a lipid molecule resembling cholesterol. At the time, sea sponges would have been the only organisms capable of producing this molecule. Prior to the Cambrian explosion of animal life, evolution is rather blurred.

However, molecular fossils can now provide a number of answers to the scientific community’s most puzzling questions. The Cambrian explosion of animal life should have been supported by evolution before the Cambrian era. Molecular fossils and biomarkers suggest that the MIT team was right in assuming that the sea sponge is the first animal on Earth.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: animal life, Cambrian era, David Gold, genetic analysis, MIT scientific team, molecular fossils, sea sponge, world's first animal

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

By Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

By Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

By Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

By Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

By Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

By Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

By Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

By Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

By Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

By Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

By Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

By Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

By Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

By Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.