May 16, 2021
Loch Torridan in Scotland’s northwest highlands. Loch is the Scottish word for lake. The newly discovered microfossils –
Bicellum brasieri – were found in ancient sediments of this lake. Image via University of Sheffield.
The beginnings of life on Earth billions of years ago, from simple single-celled organisms to more complex multicellular ones, is a widely accepted fact in science. But there are gaps or
missing links in life’s timeline, as it’s known to science. In April 2021, scientists led by Paul Strother of Boston College reported on the discovery of new microfossils in ancient Scottish lake sediments that could help fill in the gap between the earliest single-celled life and multicellular life. These scientists say these microscopic fossils could be the oldest example of complex multicellular life in the evolutionary lineage leading to animals. They say the fossils are also significant because they come – not from ocean sediments – but from sediments of an ancient freshwater lake.