Sperling received the prize for his 2010 paper “Where’s the glass? Biomarkers, molecular clocks, and microRNAs suggest a 200-Myr missing Precambrian fossil record of siliceous sponge spicules,” co-authored with Jeffrey M. Robinson, Davide Pisani and Kevin J. Peterson (Geobiology 8[1]:24–36). Sperling’s research encompassed both the earliest evidence for animal life in the fossil record and molecular analysis of modern demosponges to provide insights into the Precambrian origins of multicellular animals more than 700 million years ago.
Vinther was recognized for his 2009 paper,“The canal system in sclerites of lower Cambrian/ Sinosachites (Halkieriidae: Sachitida): Significance for the molluscan affinites of the sachitids”(Paleontology 52[4]:689–712).
