Fossilized carotenoid hydrocarbons provide a window into the physiology and biochemistry of ancient microbial phototrophic communities for which only a sparse and incomplete fossil record exists. However, accurate interpretation of carotenoid-derived biomarkers requires detailed knowledge of the carotenoid inventories of contemporary phototrophs and their physiologies. Here we report two distinct patterns of fossilized C40 diaromatic carotenoids. Phanerozoic marine settings show distributions of diaromatic hydrocarbons dominated by isorenieratane, a biomarker derived from low-light-adapted phototrophic green sulfur bacteria. In contrast, isorenieratane is only a minor constituent within Neoproterozoic marine sediments and Phanerozoic lacustrine paleoenvironments, for which the major compounds detected are renierapurpurane and renieratane, together with some novel C39 and C38 carotenoid degradation products. This latter pattern can be traced to cyanobacteria as shown by analyses of cultured taxa and laboratory simulations of sedimentary diagenesis. The cyanobacterial carotenoid synechoxanthin, and its immediate biosynthetic precursors, contain thermally labile, aromatic carboxylic-acid functional groups, which upon hydrogenation and mild heating yield mixtures of products that closely resemble those found in the Proterozoic fossil record. The Neoproterozoic–Phanerozoic transition in fossil carotenoid patterns likely reflects a step change in the surface sulfur inventory that afforded opportunities for the expansion of phototropic sulfur bacteria in marine ecosystems. Furthermore, this expansion might have also coincided with a major change in physiology. One possibility is that the green sulfur bacteria developed the capacity to oxidize sulfide fully to sulfate, an innovation which would have significantly increased their capacity for photosynthetic carbon fixation.

Hopanoid lipids, bacteriohopanols and bacteriohopanepolyols, are membrane components exclusive to bacteria. Together with their diagenetic derivatives, they are commonly used as biomarkers for specific bacterial groups or biogeochemical processes in the geologic record. However, the sources of hopanoids to marine and freshwater environments remain inadequately constrained. Recent marker gene studies suggest a widespread potential for hopanoid biosynthesis in marine bacterioplankton, including nitrifying (i.e., ammonia‐ and nitrite‐oxidizing) bacteria. To explore their hopanoid biosynthetic capacities, we studied the distribution of hopanoid biosynthetic genes in the genomes of cultivated and uncultivated ammonia‐oxidizing (AOB), nitrite‐oxidizing (NOB), and complete ammonia‐oxidizing (comammox) bacteria, finding that biosynthesis of diverse hopanoids is common among seven of the nine presently cultivated clades of nitrifying bacteria. Hopanoid biosynthesis genes are also conserved among the diverse lineages of bacterial nitrifiers detected in environmental metagenomes. We selected seven representative NOB isolated from marine, freshwater, and engineered environments for phenotypic characterization. All tested NOB produced diverse types of hopanoids, with some NOB producing primarily diploptene and others producing primarily bacteriohopanepolyols. Relative and absolute abundances of hopanoids were distinct among the cultures and dependent on growth conditions, such as oxygen and nitrite limitation. Several novel nitrogen‐containing bacteriohopanepolyols were tentatively identified, of which the so called BHP‐743.6 was present in all NOB. Distinct carbon isotopic signatures of biomass, hopanoids, and fatty acids in four tested NOB suggest operation of the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle in Nitrospira spp. and Nitrospina gracilis and of the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle for carbon fixation in Nitrobacter vulgaris and Nitrococcus mobilis. We suggest that the contribution of hopanoids by NOB to environmental samples could be estimated by their carbon isotopic compositions. The ubiquity of nitrifying bacteria in the ocean today and the antiquity of this metabolic process suggest the potential for significant contributions to the geologic record of hopanoids.

Landscape-scale reconstructions of ancient environments within the cradle of humanity may reveal insights into the relationship between early hominins and the changing resources around them. Many studies of Olduvai Gorge during Pliocene–Pleistocene times have revealed the presence of precession-driven wet–dry cycles atop a general aridification trend, though may underestimate the impact of local-scale conditions on early hominins, who likely experienced a varied and more dynamic landscape. Fossil lipid biomarkers from ancient plants and microbes encode information about their surroundings via their molecular structures and composition, and thus can shed light on past environments. Here, we employ fossil lipid biomarkers to study the paleolandscape at Olduvai Gorge at the emergence of the Acheulean technology, 1.7 Ma, through the Lower Augitic Sandstones layer. In the context of the expansion of savanna grasslands, our results represent a resource-rich mosaic ecosystem populated by groundwater-fed rivers, aquatic plants, angiosperm shrublands, and edible plants. Evidence of a geothermally active landscape is reported via an unusual biomarker distribution consistent with the presence of hydrothermal features seen today at Yellowstone National Park. The study of hydrothermalism in ancient settings and its impact on hominin evolution has not been addressed before, although the association of thermal springs in the proximity of archaeological sites documented here can also be found at other localities. The hydrothermal features and resources present at Olduvai Gorge may have allowed early hominins to thermally process edible plants and meat, supporting the possibility of a prefire stage of human evolution.

In the absence of real-life role models, women scientists portrayed in the media enable young women to imagine themselves as future scientists. Both traditional media and social media have the potential to provide role models, but their representations of scientists reinforce, rather than challenge, long-standing gendered stereotypes. Women Doing Science, a social media effort, was founded by the authors to address this representation gap by sharing daily photos of diverse women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with accompanying research descriptions in English and in other languages. To date, Women Doing Science has highlighted over 800 scientists to an audience of ~100,000 followers from around the world, who are primarily women in undergraduate and graduate STEM degree programs. Here, we evaluate the success of the Women Doing Science Instagram page in portraying women scientists with diverse racial and national identities. Furthermore, we explore which aspects of posts drive higher engagement from the audience. We find that our Instagram audience has higher engagement with posts featuring Women of Color, multiple languages, and posts that challenge stereotypes associated with women in STEM. In addition, we find that Women of Color are more likely to include additional aspects of their identity in their biographies, and that a primary reason our audience follows the page is because of the diversity portrayed in the posts. These results imply the powerful potential for social media platforms like Instagram to source diverse role models that expand conventional images of STEM professionals and allow international audiences to develop their STEM identities.

Hominin encephalization has been at the centre of debates concerning human evolution with a consensus on a greater role for improved dietary quality. To sustain the energetic demands of larger brains, cooking was likely essential for increasing the digestibility and energy gain of meat and readily available, yet toxic starches. Here, we present the oldest geochemical evidence for a landscape influenced by tectonic activity and hydrothermal features that potentially shaped early hominin behaviour at Olduvai Gorge. Although use of fire at this time is controversial, hot springs may have provided an alternative way to thermally process dietary resources available in the 1.7 Myo Olduvai wetland. Our data supports the presence of an aquatic-dominated landscape with hydrothermal features that offered hominins new opportunities to hunt and cook readily available tubers and herbivore prey at the emergence of the Acheulean technology. Future studies should further examine whether hydrothermalism similarly influenced other critical aspects of human evolution.