evolution – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:18:08 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140436 The post The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The bottom of the ocean is cold, dark and under extreme pressure. It is not a place suited to the physiology of us surface dwellers: At the deepest point, the pressure of 36,200 feet of seawater is greater than the weight of an elephant on every square inch of your body. Yet Earth’s deepest places are home to life uniquely suited to these challenging conditions. Scientists have studied how the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cellular-secret-to-resisting-the-pressure-of-the-deep-sea-20240909/feed/ 0 The Physics of Cold Water May Have Jump-Started Complex Life https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-physics-of-cold-water-may-have-jump-started-complex-life-20240724/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-physics-of-cold-water-may-have-jump-started-complex-life-20240724/#respond Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:10:10 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139280 The post The Physics of Cold Water May Have Jump-Started Complex Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Once upon a time, long ago, the world was encased in ice. That’s the tale told by sedimentary rock in the tropics, many geologists believe. Hundreds of millions of years ago, glaciers and sea ice covered the globe. The most extreme scenarios suggest a layer of ice several meters thick even at the equator. This event has been called “Snowball Earth,” and you’d think it would be a terrible time to...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-physics-of-cold-water-may-have-jump-started-complex-life-20240724/feed/ 0 The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mystery-of-the-missing-multicellular-prokaryotes-20240502/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mystery-of-the-missing-multicellular-prokaryotes-20240502/#respond Thu, 02 May 2024 14:23:48 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=137676 The post The Mystery of the Missing Multicellular Prokaryotes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Every organism visible to the naked eye is a mass of genetically identical cells. Each of these multicellular creatures started as a single cell that divided countless times to produce its body. And while each cell contains the same genome, they express their DNA in a variety of ways, giving rise to specialized cells and tissues that perform different roles, such as skin, liver or immune cells.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-mystery-of-the-missing-multicellular-prokaryotes-20240502/feed/ 0 Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion https://www.quantamagazine.org/tiny-tweaks-to-neurons-can-rewire-animal-motion-20240311/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/tiny-tweaks-to-neurons-can-rewire-animal-motion-20240311/#respond Mon, 11 Mar 2024 14:00:03 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=136114 The post Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In March 2019, on a train headed southwest from Munich, the neuroscientist Maximilian Bothe adjusted his careful grip on the cooler in his lap. It didn’t contain his lunch. Inside was tissue from half a dozen rattlesnake spinal cords packed in ice — a special delivery for his new research adviser Boris Chagnaud, a behavioral neuroscientist based on the other side of the Alps. In his lab at the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/tiny-tweaks-to-neurons-can-rewire-animal-motion-20240311/feed/ 0 Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why? https://www.quantamagazine.org/cellular-self-destruction-may-be-ancient-but-why-20240306/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/cellular-self-destruction-may-be-ancient-but-why-20240306/#respond Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:54:31 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=136017 The post Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> It can be hard to tell, at first, when a cell is on the verge of self-destruction. It appears to be going about its usual business, transcribing genes and making proteins. The powerhouse organelles called mitochondria are dutifully churning out energy. But then a mitochondrion receives a signal, and its typically placid proteins join forces to form a death machine. They slice through the cell with...

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