It’s impossible to ignore a new discovery known affectionately as the death ball. And there’s a good reason to pay attention ...

A rare chemical indicator suggests sponges may have arrived as the first animals on Earth. A sterol core is primarily composed of four fused carbon rings, along with carbon side chains and other ...

Scientists at MIT have found compelling chemical evidence that Earth’s earliest animals were likely ancient sea sponges.

New research shows that the earliest sponges were soft bodied and lacked skeletons, explaining why their oldest fossils are ...

Millions of years ago, the Earth was a barren, steamy ball over half a billion years ago, full of volcanic ash, vast oceans churning with chemical sou.

The earliest sponges to live on the earth were soft and skeletonless pioneers - rewriting the story of the origin of animal ...

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Biological systems are renowned for their ability to create strong yet resilient structures. A sea sponge, for instance, grows in layers, forming unique patterns that integrate minerals with softer ...

Picture a dolphin diving toward the seafloor with something odd on its nose. It is not a shell or a fish. It is a sea sponge.

Marine heat is rising so fast that a single extra degree could push some of the ocean’s oldest animals past their limit. New work from researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science ...

SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish best friend, Patrick Star, aren’t such cartoonish creatures after all. According to an image taken by a marine biologist doing remote deep-sea exploration this ...