MU assistant professor of geological sciences James Schiffbauer and his team have found rare 500 year old fossilized embryos in China. Now, they are studying how those fossils stayed preserved.
Schiffbauer says he hopes that these findings will attract more students to the team.
“We can really provide a comprehensive education on the history of life on Earth. So that’s where I hope this goes, getting more publicity for the group on what we do and hopefully bringing in more and more talented students,” he says.
MU doctoral student of geological sciences Jesse Broce is also a part of the team and oversaw the project.
Broce says having a connection to older organisms is valuable to students’ understandings. “A lot of people are interested in the origin of life as we know it and one thing that we don’t always get to see in the fossil record is how an organism is developed."
Schiffbauer says his findings may help researchers learn more about the evolutionary history of fossils.