Paleobiology

In a groundbreaking study published in the prestigious journal Science, researchers from the HUN-REN Center of Ecological Research (HUN-REN CER) in Hungary have joined an international team to unravel a remarkable mystery about the origins of bacterial life on Earth. Their findings suggest that some forms of bacteria developed the ability to utilize oxygen nearly a billion years before the Earth’s atmosphere became rich in it, fundamentally altering long-held beliefs about microbial evolution and the Great Oxidation Event.