1.6-billion-year-old steroid fossils hint at a lost world of microbial life
The finding backs up ideas on how the chemical pathway for cholesterol evolved
![An archaeologist wearing an orange safety vest touching some rocks](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/060823_SS_fossils_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Geochemist Jochen Brocks and colleagues report they discovered the earliest molecular footprints of eukaryotes, dating back 1.6 billion years, in this Barney Creek rock formation in northern Australia.
The Australian National University