‘First contact’ that may have led to complex life on Earth finally witnessed by scientists

Microscopic image showing newly discovered Asgard archaeon (_Nerearchaeum marumarumayae_) derived from microbial mats that offers clues to the formation of complex life. Debnath Ghosal

On the shores of the west coast of Australia lies a window to our past: the stromatolites and microbial mats of Gathaagudu (Shark Bay).

To the untrained eye they look like a collection of rocks and slime – but they are in fact teeming with microbial life. And these stromatolites are living “relics” of ancient ecosystems that thrived on Earth billions of years ago.