Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada is home to some of the most unusual lifeforms, from its towering tufa formations to the dense populations of brine shrimp and alkali flies that thrive in its harsh, salty waters. Now, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have uncovered a microscopic organism within these waters that could shed light on the early evolution of life—particularly the development of multicellular organisms. This discovery, a single-celled organism known as a choanoflagellate, has intrigued scientists. Choanoflagellates are not animals, but they are the clos…