Scientists at The University of Queensland have upended biologists’ century-old understanding of the evolutionary history of animals.
Using new technology to investigate how multi-celled animals developed, their findings, published in Nature, revealed a surprising truth.
Professor Bernie Degnan said the results contradicted years of tradition.
“We’ve found that the first multicellular animals probably weren’t like the modern-day sponge cells, but were more like a collection of convertible cells,” Professor Degnan said.
