Scientists have discovered the oldest fossilized sperm on the geological record, according to a new study published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. And not just any old sperm: gargantuan sperm.
A team of paleontologists in Australia came across a pristinely preserved specimen of sperm from an ostracod, a kind of shrimp, in a bat cave in Queensland. The sperm, which scientists suspect was preserved in bat feces, is 17 million years old, and when unwound can reach 10 times longer than the shrimp itself.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay: unwind at this picture-perfect resortThe Week Recommends The retreat that's ideal for recharging your batteries while experiencing life on an Indonesian island
-
The World War Two experiments that made D-Day possibleUnder The Radar Scientists performed gruelling tests on themselves paving the way for the iconic invasion
-
Is the Supreme Court about to criminalize homelessness?Talking Points The court will decide if bans on outdoor camping are 'cruel and unusual'
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipseSpeed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeepingSpeed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
-
An amphibian that produces milk?speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
-
Jupiter's Europa has less oxygen than hopedspeed read Scientists say this makes it less likely that Jupiter's moon harbors life
-
Why February 29 is a leap daySpeed Read It all started with Julius Caesar
-
US spacecraft nearing first private lunar landingSpeed Read If touchdown is successful, it will be the first U.S. mission to the moon since 1972
-
Scientists create 'meaty' rice for eco-friendly proteinSpeed Read Korean scientists have invented a new hybrid food, consisting of beef muscle and fat cells grown inside grains of rice
-
New images reveal Neptune and Uranus in different colours than originally thoughtSpeed Read Voyager 2 images from the 1980s led to 'modern misconception'
