Life becomes more and more complex, evolution study finds

AFP, March, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Life, as it evolves, becomes increasingly complex and rarely less so, a study of evolution by British and Canadian researchers has found.

In the study out Monday researchers looked back 550 million years in the fossil catalogue from today, checking several evolutionary branches of the crustacean family tree to see where animals evolved that became simpler than their ancestors.

But instead they found organisms that developed increasingly complicated structures and characteristics.

"If you start with the simplest possible animal body, then there's only one direction to evolve in, you have to become more complex," said Dr Matthew Wills from the Department of Biology & Biochemistry at the University of Bath who worked with colleagues Sarah Adamowicz from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Andy Purvis from Imperial College London.

"Sooner or later, ...