Mass Extinctions, Ancient Viruses May Hold Clues to Life’s Origins

Mass extinctions occur repeatedly, though irregularly, throughout Earth’s history, and occasionally these extinctions have been devastating to life on our planet – or have they?

Extinction events have sometimes accelerated the evolution of life on earth by eliminating old dominating species and making room for new ones. A new study takes this idea a step further, showing that life may have never achieved the complexity necessary for the development of advanced multi-cellular organisms without recurring extinction events. (Read more…)

~ by windyharbor on April 4, 2009.