A previously unknown species has been found in New Jersey of all places! A team of scientists including researchers from McGill University, California Institute of Technology, the Curie Institute in Paris, Princton and others are researching a previously unknown species of crystalline magnetic fossils of a microorganism. The microorganism lived between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs around 55 million years ago.

This find is especially interesting because magnetofossils are remnants of magnetite crystals that are produced by a type of bacteria that has the capability of aligning themselves with the direction of the Earth's magnetic field. These fossils are unlike any other ever seen by scientists, and this species lived during a period of global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. During this time period, temperatures rose by around 6 °C over 20,000 years, with a corresponding rise in sea level as the whole of the oceans warmed. Mass extinctions occurred and this species and the data they can extract from it might allow scientists to determine what caused the Earth's temperature to rise, and apply it to understanding Earth's current climate changes. 

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