A Laurentian University finding is being closely examined because of the potential impact it could bring to the scientific community.
Published in the journal Nature, a fossil discovered by Dr. Elizabeth Turner, which seems to be an ancient sponge, could be the earliest evidence of animal life dating back to 890 million years ago.
She says the Mediterranean bath sponge may prove the existence of animal life far earlier than previous evidence, which showed life emerged some 540 million years ago.
A sedimentary geologist, research scientist and professor at Laurentian’s Harquail School of Earth Sciences, she was in the Northwest Territories for her PhD research when she found the interesting sample.
Turner hopes that her discovery is one that other scientists can build on in finding out more about how life developed on the Earth.