Major Advance in Revealing the Dawn of Complex Life? Sorry, It's a Little Premature to Break Out the Champagne

Carl Zimmer reports in the New York Times about a breakthrough in uncovering the early prehistory of the first complex cells. Publishing in the journal Nature, scientists say they have uncovered what might be evidence of an intermediate cell, a "missing link" as Zimmer calls it, that lies somewhere between bacteria -- prokaryotes -- and the first true eukaryotes, cells with multiple membrane-bound compartments.

This result is to be celebrated, if true, as it would represent a major advance...