Dude, while stromatolites are not common today, they are not unheard of. There are still some active ones in Australia, Peru and the Bahamas. Every single thing on this planet can trace a direct line from the first live when it evolved. Thus, everything on this planet has the same age. Even if a fossil could suggest that some organism has not changed much for millions of years, we can not look at the cells and their genetic makeup to infer if other significant changes have occurred not reflected by the fossil remains.

“unknown prehistoric world” sounds like a major discovery. If the title of the article would have been “stromatolites discovered in remote lagoon from 1 billion years ago” it would not have implied that some new “world” was discovered. If by world we just mean unknown habitats, well voila, everywhere you look there will be unknown prehistoric worlds. Find a fossil of some super known, cosmopolitan species but in a new place, voila, new world yet unknown to men discovered. Idiotic.

Whats so revolutionary? Stromatolites have been found 3.4 billion years ago from Australia. How is this “unknown prehistoric world”… clickbait is all it is without much content

There is a nice easter egg on the page, it has to do with the crowbar at the bottom!

Which means nothing and I will still wait for actual reviews after the release

This sentencing is so non-sense because it rather shows how the legislation for scientific samples is often not really there or sensible.

During my PhD I was working on rather obscure marine invertebrate animals called Bryozoan. To any normal person they look like some algea or plant matter. I had to collect live specimens and transport them from one European country to another by airplane. If I would follow proper procedure I would need a vet check the health status of the animals at departure and arrival. No vet ever has looked at a bryozoan much less has any clue on how to access their health. So the conclusion was to simply throw them in a cooler and hand this in as the luggage. When asked whats in the cooler I just said „mostly water“.

Almost everyone in the academic community would frequently transport DNA, RNA, Antibodies, Animals and other unique samples by just placing it in the luggage. There is hardly any real alternative in an industry that is strapped for money (basic research is almost always poor)