Dec 19, 2025 07:26 PM
Complex life started with fungi, not plants or animals
https://bigthink.com/life/earths-complex...-a-fungus/
KEY POINTS: The first complex organisms to colonize the continental landmasses of Earth were neither plant nor animal, but fungi. By forming networks and symbiotic relationships, early fungi helped life transition from simple cells to larger, more organized organisms. The following excerpt from The Grand Cosmic Story explores how fungi helped prepare Earth for the rise of plants and animals... (MORE - details)
Long live the aeonophiles!
https://aeon.co/essays/the-discovery-of-...on-of-life
INTRO: If you had to nominate the slowest, longest-living organisms on Earth, what would you picture? Among the vertebrates, some people might think of tortoises, whales or perhaps more obscure creatures like the Greenland shark, which can live for centuries. Others might imagine coral colonies, or perhaps an ancient tree: there are oaks in England that could be more than 1,000 years old, whereas in California, a few Bristlecone pines have been around for millennia, dating to around the formation of ancient Egypt.
But how about bacteria? Microbes, at the outset, may seem unsuitable candidates for the title of longest-living organism, since we’re so used to experiencing how they grow (and die) so quickly. If I wake up with a tickle in my throat, I get a feeling of dread because I know that, by the evening, I’m going to have a full-blown case of strep throat – the bacterial cells dividing like wildfire in my body. Some bacteria, like E coli, can double every 20 minutes. They can be killed off just as quickly, when faced with antibiotics or disinfectant.
However, E coli and other fast-replicating microbes don’t live in subsurface environments, where the conditions are ripe for a far more languid pace. In recent years, my fellow biologists and I have assembled evidence suggesting that the microbial world deep beneath the ground may be far slower than we think – perhaps remaining metabolically active for millions of years. I call these organisms aeonophiles – and by living as long as they do, they are rewriting the rules of biology itself. What are they doing down there? It turns out they might be waiting – waiting to return to the surface. But unlike cicadas or hibernating bears, these living things are holding on for events that might take centuries, millennia or even geological eras to arrive... (MORE - details)
https://bigthink.com/life/earths-complex...-a-fungus/
KEY POINTS: The first complex organisms to colonize the continental landmasses of Earth were neither plant nor animal, but fungi. By forming networks and symbiotic relationships, early fungi helped life transition from simple cells to larger, more organized organisms. The following excerpt from The Grand Cosmic Story explores how fungi helped prepare Earth for the rise of plants and animals... (MORE - details)
Long live the aeonophiles!
https://aeon.co/essays/the-discovery-of-...on-of-life
INTRO: If you had to nominate the slowest, longest-living organisms on Earth, what would you picture? Among the vertebrates, some people might think of tortoises, whales or perhaps more obscure creatures like the Greenland shark, which can live for centuries. Others might imagine coral colonies, or perhaps an ancient tree: there are oaks in England that could be more than 1,000 years old, whereas in California, a few Bristlecone pines have been around for millennia, dating to around the formation of ancient Egypt.
But how about bacteria? Microbes, at the outset, may seem unsuitable candidates for the title of longest-living organism, since we’re so used to experiencing how they grow (and die) so quickly. If I wake up with a tickle in my throat, I get a feeling of dread because I know that, by the evening, I’m going to have a full-blown case of strep throat – the bacterial cells dividing like wildfire in my body. Some bacteria, like E coli, can double every 20 minutes. They can be killed off just as quickly, when faced with antibiotics or disinfectant.
However, E coli and other fast-replicating microbes don’t live in subsurface environments, where the conditions are ripe for a far more languid pace. In recent years, my fellow biologists and I have assembled evidence suggesting that the microbial world deep beneath the ground may be far slower than we think – perhaps remaining metabolically active for millions of years. I call these organisms aeonophiles – and by living as long as they do, they are rewriting the rules of biology itself. What are they doing down there? It turns out they might be waiting – waiting to return to the surface. But unlike cicadas or hibernating bears, these living things are holding on for events that might take centuries, millennia or even geological eras to arrive... (MORE - details)