How glacier algae are challenging the way we think about evolution
People often underestimate tiny beings. But microscopic algal cells not only evolved to thrive in one of the most extreme habitats on Earth—glaciers—but are also shaping them.
People often underestimate tiny beings. But microscopic algal cells not only evolved to thrive in one of the most extreme habitats on Earth—glaciers—but are also shaping them.
Evolution
Jun 19, 2024
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89
From the air you breathe to the seafood you eat, marine algae have some involvement—they consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen through photosynthesis and feed fish and shellfish. One day, marine algae could also be ...
Environment
Jun 14, 2024
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27
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots, known as microrobots, capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting medication directly to metastatic tumors. This ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 12, 2024
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11
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a pill that releases microscopic robots, or microrobots, into the colon to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The experimental treatment, given orally, ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 26, 2024
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33
The Arctic is in the hotseat of climate change, warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth.
Environment
Jun 18, 2024
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19
Researchers have created tiny, vehiclelike structures that can be maneuvered by microscopic algae. The algae are caught in baskets attached to the micromachines, which have been carefully designed to allow them enough room ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 8, 2024
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9
New Hampshire officials issued two warnings of potentially dangerous algae blooms along parts of Lake Winnipesaukee, the state's largest lake.
Environment
Jun 14, 2024
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37
It's hard to overstate the importance of photosynthesis, the biochemical pathway by which plants, algae, and certain bacteria convert the sun's energy into the organic material that feeds the entire living biosphere. But ...
Plants & Animals
5 hours ago
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Algae (pronounced /ˈældʒiː/; singular alga /ˈælɡə/, Latin for "seaweed") are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants. For that reason they are currently excluded from being considered plants.
Though the prokaryotic Cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as Blue-green Algae) were traditionally included as "Algae" in older textbooks, many modern sources regard this as outdated and restrict the term Algae to eukaryotic organisms. All true algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes. Algae constitute a paraphyletic and polyphyletic group, as they do not include all the descendants of the last universal ancestor nor do they all descend from a common algal ancestor, although their chloroplasts seem to have a single origin.
Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as phyllids and rhizoids in nonvascular plants, or leaves, roots, and other organs that are found in tracheophytes. Many are photoautotrophic, although some groups contain members that are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some unicellular species rely entirely on external energy sources and have limited or no photosynthetic apparatus.
Nearly all algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the Cyanobacteria, and so produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, unlike other photosynthetic bacteria such as purple and green sulfur bacteria. Fossilized filamentous algae from the Vindhya basin have been dating back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago.
The first alga to have its genome sequenced was Cyanidioschyzon merolae.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA