We humans have long viewed ourselves as the pinnacle of evolution. People label other species as "primitive" or "ancient" and use terms like "higher" and "lower" animals. This anthropocentric ...

A microorganism whose evolutionary roots can be traced to the era of the first multicellular animals may provide a glimpse of how single-celled organisms made a critical evolutionary leap. In ...

Slime molds, which live in soil, are truly ancient animals. They arrived on land close to a billion years ago and may well have colonized continents that were then home only to films of bacteria.

Despite its central importance, the brain's origins have not yet been uncovered. The first animal brains appeared hundreds of millions of years ago. Today, only the most primitive animal species, such ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Kevin Omland, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (THE CONVERSATION) We humans ...