Cultivating the Ancestors… in Motion
What electron microscope images hint at, but can only be seen in videos: how 'Asgard' archaea move.
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An Orchid, Two Fungi
by Roberto — The growth of a medicinal orchid depends on two fungal partners.
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Lichens Rise to Prominence
Noteworthy — Lichen fossils indicate they were strategic for the colonization of terrestrial environments.
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Evolution of Ant-Fungus Farming
by Mechas — Agriculture has triggered enormous changes in human society. But it is not unique to humans.
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Cultivating the Ancestors (4|4)
by Christoph — Having 1 or 2 'Asgard' archaea under the microscope – after having cultivated them with great effort and even more patience – and looking them in the face is exciting, but a bit unsatisfying when they are cousins. Are they mavericks or rather typical for "Lokis"? Here are the portraits of two more distant relatives, both also cousins: Margulisarchaeum peptidophila HC1 and Flexarchaeum multiprotrusionis SC1.
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Cultivating the Ancestors... (3|4)
by Christoph — There was joy, even excitement among archaeologists when the first images of P. syntrophicum MK‑D1 made the rounds. This sense of joy deepend still when images of its cousin Lokiarchaeon ossiferum Loki-B35 were added a little later. The ancestors suddenly got their own faces, literally, and were no longer only vaguely recognizable from genome sequences!
