upend evolutionary history
A googly-eyed fish could upend evolutionary history
Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Using advanced imaging techniques, an international research team has reconstructed an ancient extinct fish's heart, brain, and fins from an intricately detailed, fingernail-sized fossil fragment. But cartoon lookalikes aside, the creature may help rewrite one of the earliest chapters in animal evolution. Its details are described in a study published on August 6 in Nature. Earth's first fish arrived about half a billion years ago, but not anywhere near the ocean's surface.