It is likely that the fossils referred to [as] Vernanimalcula were interpreted as bilaterians because this was . . . the explicit quarry of its authors. If you know from the beginning not only what you are looking for, but what you are going to find, you will find it, whether or not it exists. As Richard Feynman (1974) famously remarked: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.” . . . Once you have fooled yourself you will fool other scientists.52
