In an $80 motel room in Nags Head, N. C., biologists made a significant discovery. Andrew Willoughby and evolutionary biologist Julia Van Etten uncovered two new species of Paulinella, a rare single-celled organism.

Their project began as a scrappy science effort, sparked by federal funding freezes. Over several days, the team scoured brackish water samples for swamp algae. In the Journal of Phycology, Van Etten and colleagues reported the find.

This brings the world's known total of photosynthetic Paulinella species to six. Paulinella is vital to biologists because it represents a second photosynthetic merger, occurring about 100 million years ago. This recent event offers a window into the fundamental transition 1.5 billion years ago when complex life bloomed on Earth.

Angela Oliverio, a biologist at Syracuse University, noted the discovery allows scientists to see a snapshot of the process midway through. Studying Paulinella could elucidate one of the most fundamental transitions in the history of life on our planet. It may also provide clues on how such events happen elsewhere in the universe.

The quest illustrates the curiosity, tenacity, and human relationships that advance knowledge despite political disruption.