Editor’s note: the genetic innovations that appear over the course of life’s evolution on Earth are often preserved as evolution advances. If it works – then it works. By studying […]
evolution
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Directing Open-Ended Evolution in Artificial Life via Multi-Scale Path Divergence
Open-ended evolution (OEE) in artificial life is typically driven by uninterpretable, black-box neural-network complexity metrics, leaving life-like systems disconnected from physical theories of complexity.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release
Nucleomorph Phylogenomics Suggests A Deep And Ancient Origin Of Cryptophyte Plastids Within Rhodophyta
The evolutionary origin of red algae‐derived complex plastids remains obscure. Cryptophyta, one of four eukaryotic lineages harboring these plastids, still contains nucleomorphs, which are highly reduced remnants of red algal […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Rethinking The Origin Of Our Cells As A Story Of Microbial Alliances
All cells in animals, plants, fungi, and protists share a fundamental characteristic: they are eukaryotic cells—complex cells with specialized internal compartments. The cells that make up our bodies are no […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The Deep Sea Is An Untapped Evolutionary Engine Says New Study
Editor’s note: As we expand outward from Earth to other worlds we are almost certainly going to encounter things we did not expect to find – things that are unlikely […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The RNA-First Fallacy: Conflating Evolutionary Ancestry with Prebiotic Primacy
The RNA-World hypothesis remains the most widely accepted framework in origins-of-life research, anchored in compelling biochemical evidence for RNA’s deep evolutionary ancestry. However, this viewpoint routinely extends beyond that and […]
Posted inFossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
A Lack Of Sex Held Back Life’s Diversity For Millions Of Years
The way that Earth’s first animals reproduced held back life’s diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated […]
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Origin & Evolution of Life, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report
Life Out There: Expectations And Reality
We are in the age of the direct and indirect search for extraterrestrial life. The major question is: what are we looking for and to what extent can life on […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Rethinking the Last Universal Common Ancestor of Life: Network Convergence and the Root of the Tree
The tree of life is rooted at the “origin of life.” One model holds that core biochemistry, which includes the genetic code, the ribosome, biopolymer backbones, and amino acid and […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Forgotten Fossil Helps Rewrite Part Of Animal Evolution
New research helps to fill in questions about the so-called “Furongian gap” from about 497 million to 485 million years ago, when palaeontologists previously thought there were far fewer fossils […]