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Convergent evolution in similar environments is fascinating; isn't it?
Makes you wonder if we would encounter any familiar-looking life forms on other Goldilocks zone planets…
Ive always wondered this: has a species have an evolutionary history where they originated in land but adapted to living in water and then adapted to living on land again?
Not exactly what you’re asking but whales used to be land mammals. > It is believed that modern-day whales evolved from land-based animals about 55 million years ago. These land-based mammals are believed to be hoofed mammals, sharing a common ancestry with even-toed ungulates such as the cow and the deer. > Evolution of Whales Whales started their journey as all other organisms have, as single-celled bacteria. An ev…
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I wasn't aware of that some time ago, it's a fascinating insight. I got a lightbulb (going wtf/dark actually!) when watching cartoon or something with triceratops. They looked so much like rhinos. But had eggs. I had trouble reconciling it with evolution. They were so far ancestor-wise but so close physically-looking wise. Convergent evolution is very interesting. It suggests aliens may not be that different from us…
My understanding is that eggs and no-eggs are not as different as might be expected. After all, the no-eggs still have eggs but, just, don't lay the eggs or let us make French toast, custards, or omelets! Maybe a key issue would be the amazing placenta. But maybe the egg animals are not so far from having a placenta because they still DO have to be willing to accept the male sperm without killing it, and part of what…
What was striking to me was how far in ancestry chain you have to go back with rhinos to meet common ancestor with egg-lying triceratops - this ancestor will not look like any of them, however they did meet from completely divergent dna to be so look alike, crazy.
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PBS has been putting out such great content in the last 5 years. Really impressive and highly overlooked
PBS space time is another good channel. Their series on general theory of relativity is really nice. They try to explain it as close as possible to the real thing but still make it accessible without resorting to innacurate analogies
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There was a recent article on here about how species that looked alike were not necessarily related and is was more common to have physically dissimilar but geographically close species that were evolutionary relatives. One of the points was that convergent evolution was more common than people thought. These stories appear to support the convergent evolution assertion
I wasn't aware of that some time ago, it's a fascinating insight. I got a lightbulb (going wtf/dark actually!) when watching cartoon or something with triceratops. They looked so much like rhinos. But had eggs. I had trouble reconciling it with evolution. They were so far ancestor-wise but so close physically-looking wise. Convergent evolution is very interesting. It suggests aliens may not be that different from us…
Edit: dropped word
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If the habitat was the bottleneck, we could learn about a convergence point that tells us about possible non-Earth life. "Whatever the advantages are, they do not apply in all habitats because some groups have also lost carcinization; one modern example being the frog crab."
Fun fact: life has terraformed the Earth (pun fully intended) into what it is today: - Photosynthesis created and maintains the current composition of the athmosphere. By removing too much CO2, it likely also contributed to several ice ages. - Early life sequestered almost all the iron in the primordial Earth's sea into sediments, which turned into iron ores. - We take the presence of such a basic thing as soil for a…
The point is that plants are capable of terraforming the planet on their own. It isn't even a slow process if humans help the plants do their job.
Ive always wondered this: has a species have an evolutionary history where they originated in land but adapted to living in water and then adapted to living on land again?
Ive always wondered this: has a species have an evolutionary history where they originated in land but adapted to living in water and then adapted to living on land again?
> We know the process has occurred multiple times and our current grant is aimed at better understanding the drivers and implications What can they actually discover? 10 legs good? But how about 12? [1] > The crab with the longest legs is the Japanese spider crab. It’s not related to spiders, despite its name. When extended, its legs can be as long as 12 feet. Now there's a nightmare for you. [1] https://www.referenc…
Oh that's some nightmare fuel all right: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab#/media/...
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Fun fact: life has terraformed the Earth (pun fully intended) into what it is today: - Photosynthesis created and maintains the current composition of the athmosphere. By removing too much CO2, it likely also contributed to several ice ages. - Early life sequestered almost all the iron in the primordial Earth's sea into sediments, which turned into iron ores. - We take the presence of such a basic thing as soil for a…
Something farmers who are now inherently dependent on synthetics forgot is that plants can form soil on their own. Plants use deep root systems and can send up to half their glucose into the soil to build up organic matter in the soil. Bacteria and fungi digest the glucose and create small pores in clay soil which lets water infiltrate instead of washing nutrients away at the top. Droughts are rarely the result of a…