{
  "id": 12894441,
  "title": "Rise of collagen-eating microbes may help explain gaps in the fossil record",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/rise-of-collagen-eating-microbes-may-help-explain-gaps-in-the-fossil",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-08T15:00:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-collagen-microbes-gaps-fossil.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Researchers may have uncovered the reason why some of Earth's earliest animals were commonly preserved as fossils—even though they were essentially fragile \"bags of goo\"—while later soft-bodied creatures have largely disappeared from the fossil record.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}