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The Tree of Life Consolidates

Posted by kdawson on from the pruning-it dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "The Tree of Life is an expression first used by Charles Darwin to describe the diversity of organisms on Earth and their evolutionary history. There are only two life forms, — eukaryotes, which gather their genetic material in a nucleus, and prokaryotes, such as bacteria, which have their genetic material floating freely in the cell. Until recently, eukaryotes, which include humans, were divided into five groups. But now, based on work by European researchers, the Tree of Life has lost a branch. After doing the largest ever genetic comparison of life forms they concluded that there are only four groups of eukaryotes."

4 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Oops, my bad by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I should be more careful with that chainsaw. Poor tree, only 5 branches , I hope it survives...

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  2. First we lose pluto and now we lose this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What else will science rob from us before we decide enough is enough?

  3. But the circle of life... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...stays the same:
    • Born, Live, Read /., Die
    Non-geeks, substitute "Read /." with "Move Out" and "Have Sex".
    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. No! by waveformwafflehouse · · Score: 4, Funny

    4 supergroups? Wait, did Journey break up? Who stopped believing!