Scientists have been working to understand the pivotal moment when a primitive organism gave rise to the diverse variety of animals that exist in the world today. Sponges would have been the next to appear, followed by the rest of the animals, including the lineage that led to humans.
Scientists used "genetics to travel back in time around a billion years to obtain the strongest evidence yet to answer a fundamental question about the first events in animals evolution," says one of the authors. The research will help understand how animals perceive their environment, how they eat and move, and all the basic functions we share.