If you imagine the earliest animals on Earth, you might picture something simple but sturdy. Maybe a sponge-like creature ...

Most sponges, inspiration for dish cleaners and mess absorbers, feed by filtering water through those many holes and channels. Their scientific name, Porifera, literally means pore bearer. The ...

Most genes involved in complex processes are present in sponges, new research shows. Sponges or Porifera -- there are over 8,000 species currently recognised -- are the most basal phylum of metazoans.

Biologists studied how the separated sells of marine sponges reconnect. The reaggregation of marine sponges' cells helped the scientists to come closer to understanding of the origin and early ...