1.6-billion-year-old steroid fossils hint at a lost world of microbial life

The finding backs up ideas on how the chemical pathway for cholesterol evolved

An archaeologist wearing an orange safety vest touching some rocks

Geochemist Jochen Brocks and colleagues report they discovered the earliest molecular footprints of eukaryotes, dating back 1.6 billion years, in this Barney Creek rock formation in northern Australia.

The Australian National University

Molecular fossils found in ancient sedimentary rocks have unveiled a lost world of primitive eukaryotes that dominated aquatic ecosystems from at least 1.6