evolutionary family tree

Millipedes may have inhabited land 460 million years ago, predating vertebrates by 80 million years. A recent study completed their evolutionary family tree, uncovering insights into their role as ecosystem engineers and their early use of chemical defenses.

Scientists discovered that human blood cells may originate from single-celled ancestors dating back 700 million years. By reconstructing the evolutionary family tree of blood cells, researchers linked the development of the modern immune system to Earth's earliest life forms.