I went down an abandoned iron mine to find life that predates animals

In my early 20s, my science-nerd friends and I thought it would be cool to get our hands on some Precambrian fossils. We had to email geology professors, and they helped us locate some abandoned iron mines. We went on an amateur geological expedition to uncover Precambrian microfossils in the Gunflint Range of northern Minnesota. What you’re looking at is 1.5+ billion-year-old cyanobacteria — probably with living descendants today. (The picture is by professional scientists; it looks better than the ones I have.)