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 sed
brasieri is used to honor the late paleontologist and study co-author, Martin Brasier.
These fossils appear as tiny microscopic balls, each containing two different kinds of cells. The cells inside the ball are round and tightly-packed with thin cell walls. The outer layer or surface of the balls, however, are composed of longer, sausage-shaped cells that have thicker cell walls.
These fossils are clearly of multicelled organisms, the scientists say, albeit simple ones. But there’s an interesting puzzle. The fossils were found in ancient lake sediments, but most scientists think that multicellular life first began to appear in Earth’s primordial oceans.