The unexpected relatives of smallpox

(PhysOrg.com) -- A protein shared by the simple viruses that infect single-cell organisms, and their highly complex counterparts that affect mammals, could hold to the key to understanding and ultimately neutralising the ...

Old life capable of revealing new tricks after all

(PhysOrg.com) -- Archaea are among the oldest known life-forms, but they are not well understood. It was only in the 1970s that these single-celled microorganisms were designated as a domain of life distinct from bacteria ...

Surprises from the ocean: Marine plankton and ocean pH

The world's oceans support vast populations of single-celled organisms (phytoplankton) that are responsible, through photosynthesis, for removing about half of the carbon dioxide that is produced by burning fossil fuels – ...

Seeing the planets for the trees

A recent study says that a particular mathematical technique could be used to detect forests on extrasolar planets.

Did Phosphorus Trigger Complex Evolution -- and Blue Skies?

(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolution of complex life forms may have gotten a jump start billions of years ago, when geologic events operating over millions of years caused large quantities of phosphorus to wash into the oceans. ...

Earliest animals lived in a lake environment, research shows

Evidence for life on Earth stretches back billions of years, with simple single-celled organisms like bacteria dominating the record. When multi-celled animal life appeared on the planet after 3 billion years of single cell ...

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