Devolution, of which this is an example, may be more common than we suppose and will probably have precisely the effect of creating “exceptions” like this. Note that we are told, “they likely steal energy from their host using some type of proteins.” It makes sense that many devolved creatures are parasites. They can afford to throw away equipment if they are using the host’s toolbox anyway.
Tag: oxygen
Did microbes once thrive in arsenic world — a world without oxygen?
Researchers: Our team of geologists, physicists and biologists had found hints in fossilized stromatolites that arsenic was the chemical of choice for ancient photosynthesis and respiration.
New study shows high oxygen levels 2 billion years ago; Rob Sheldon offers some thoughts
Perhaps its only in imagination that things can just randomly swish into existence and grow very complex, given enough time. The thing is, there isn’t enough time.
Why did bigger, more complex organisms get started earlier in deep oceans?
A new paper tests the hypothesis that stable temperature was the key — cold but stable.
Planets with oxygen not necessarily good candidates for ET life?
Researchers have found that the presence of oxygen in a planet’s atmosphere may not be a strong indicator of life: Simulating in the lab the atmospheres of planets beyond the solar system, researchers successfully created both organic compounds and oxygen, absent of life. The findings, published Dec. 11 by the journal ACS Earth and Space Read More…
Researchers: Earth’s oxygen rose and fell several times before the Great Oxidation Event 2.2 bya
According to the latest research, we learn from ScienceDaily: Earth’s oxygen levels rose and fell more than once hundreds of millions of years before the planetwide success of the Great Oxidation Event about 2.4 billion years ago, new research from the University of Washington shows. The evidence comes from a new study that indicates a Read More…