Word: protists
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Animal sex, however, is a more recent invention. Biologist Lynn Margulis of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst believes the evolutionary roots of egg and sperm cells can be traced back to a group of organisms known as protists that first appeared some 1.5 billion years ago. (Modern examples include protozoa, giant kelp and malaria parasites.) During periods of starvation, Margulis conjectures, one protist was driven to devour another. Sometimes this cannibalistic meal was incompletely digested, and the nuclei of prey and predator fused. By joining forces, the fused cells were better able to survive adversity, and because they survived...
...Fayette until 1955, when a store of her letters and mementos was found in a stone tower of La Grange, one of the family estates outside Paris. Using this untapped source material and other fresh documents collected by La Fayette's descendants, Veteran Biographer Andre Maurois (Protist, Disraeli, Dickens] has described the virtuous Adrienne in tones of solemn wonder. Adrienne's sole fault was that she was almost too good to be true-and certainly was much too good to be interesting for 482 pages. But Old Master Maurois, 76, wisely lets La Fayette dominate great stretches...
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