No Evolution for 2 Billion Years

Scientists examining microfossils of deep-sea sulfur bacteria from Western Australia's coast found them virtually indistinguishable from those in older samples and the same sulfur bacteria today, an example of more than 2 billion years of no evolution in a static environment that confirms rather than challenges current evolutionary theory.

Three Billiion-Year-Old Plankton

Microstructures 20 to 60 microns in length found in the Farrel Quartzite in Western Australia in 3 billion-year-old rocks have been identified as planktonic autotroph fossils, suggesting oceans around the globe were filled with life at that time.

Billion-Year-Old Water

Scientists have discovered ancient water pockets through boreholes into a Canadian mine that are at least 1.5 billion years old, possibly significantly older, part of an isolated and interconnected fluid system in the deep crust that contains chemicals that may able to support microbial life.

World's Oldest Fossil

Researchers have discovered what they believe to be the oldest fossil evidence of life yet found, 3.4 million-year-old microfossils of single-celled organisms found in a sandstone formation in Strelley Pool, Western Australia.