A Turtle With Horns and a Spiked Tail

The world's tallest volcanic sea stack, a 562-meter spike of rock where scientists in 2001 found 24 Lord Howe Island Stick Insects under a single shrub, 80 years after the species was declared extinct. This population may have descended from a single pregnant female.

A 3-meter tall kangaroo with forward-facing eyes. It reached leaves like a giraffe and was the largest hopping animal ever.

Living stromatolites found in a cattle trough, proving these ancient structures can form in completely unexpected environments. Life finds a way even in a watering hole.

Microscopic structures in 3.5-billion-year-old Australian rocks that some scientists say are the oldest fossils on Earth and others insist are mineral formations that look like microbes. The debate shows how hard it is to identify ancient life.

36 dishes spread across the outback, scanning the sky faster than any previous survey. The remoteness protects the telescope from human radio interference.

Unlike stromatolites built in layers, these microbial mounds grow as clotted masses. They represent a different evolutionary experiment in microbial construction.