Earth’s ‘boring billion’ years blamed on sulfur-loving microbes

A new study suggests these organisms could have kept oxygen levels low and waters toxic, stalling the evolution of complex life

Sulfur-loving microbes may have been the party poopers of middle Earth. New research suggests that if such microbes dominated the oceans until half a billion years ago, the organisms could have contributed to the static period known as the “boring billion,” scientists report online September 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.