Chemical fossils point to sponges as some of Earth's first animals
Feb 28th 2026
An MIT-led team reports that rare sterane compounds in very old rocks match sterols made by modern demosponges and by lab-synthesized standards after simulated burial, strengthening the case that sponge ancestors were among Earth’s earliest animals.
- Researchers found C30 and C31 sterane biomarkers in Ediacaran rocks from Oman, western India, and Siberia dating to more than 541 million years ago.