...The fossilized embryos shatter some ideas about evolution. Not only have certain cellular processes been pushed way back in time, but also there does not appear to be any evolution seen in these embryos, since many cellular processes, including some modern features, go clear back to the beginning of the fossil record. These embryos demonstrate that complex metazoans have been around since at least the Neoproterozoic and that from an evolutionary point of view their origins go back even further. Thus, the origin of animals is firmly based on nothing, and a huge evolutionary mystery: ‘The origin of animals is...