A rare 520-million-year-old fossil shaped like a ‘squashed bird’s nest’ that will help to shed new light on life within Earth’s ancient seas has been discovered in China by an international research team. The fossil is of a probable ‘chancelloriid’, a group of bizarre, balloon-shaped animals with an outer skeleton of defensive spines.

 

Summary in Science Daily at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141209081644.htm

Full online article at: http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/141209/srep07340/full/srep07340.html