Get the latest tech news

Two Lifeforms Merge Into One Organism For First Time In a Billion Years

"For the first time in at least a billion years, two lifeforms have merged into a single organism," reports the Independent: The process, called primary endosymbiosis, has only happened twice in the history of the Earth, with the first time giving rise to all complex life as we know it through mit...

Now, an international team of scientists have observed the evolutionary event happening between a species of algae commonly found in the ocean and a bacterium... The process involves the algae engulfing the bacterium and providing it with nutrients, energy and protection in return for functions that it could not previously perform — in this instance, the ability to "fix" nitrogen from the air. The researchers from the U.S. and Japan who made the discovery said it will offer new insights into the process of evolution, while also holding the potential to fundamentally change agriculture.

Get the Android app