Today’s NYT science section takes evo-devo as its topic. I had to look up the term, and only felt mild relief to find it’d been around less than ten years. (I think.) Still…. Evo-devo evolutionary development biologists look at how molecular and genetic changes put in motion a whole set of possibilities and take away another whole set.
- Nicholas Wade: recent human genetic evolution
- John Noble Wilford: human paleontology
- Carol Kaesuk Yoon: evo-devo, the concept
- Carl Zimmer (MSU researcher prominent!): microbial evolution
- and more (does it mean anything that the authors’ names are at the very end of the alphabet?)….
So, here’s my contribution. Two thoughts….
Here’s an article on the bushy tree of life, and its many branches, a more technical explanation than what the venerable NYT offers. I provide it, not merely for the content, but also for the final subhead. My response: let me count the ways….
Second is the photo above, of a mature tree next to Lake Clara Meer. Its neighbor, disfigured by a streak of rot and a blob of uncontrolled growth (virus?), I noticed, has an orange dot at eye level. I’m guessing it’s slated for removal. So this oak will survive a little longer, offering its leaves to the sun-gods and its shade to the squirrels…and me. Another tree of life….