The Tree of Life is a diagrammatic representation of all life on Earth. It can be split into three branches¹: the Bacteria and the Archaea (single-celled organisms) and the Eukarya (multi-cellular organisms).

You see that tiny box labelled “Fungi, Animalia, Plantae”? That tiny box contains all the fungi, animals and plants in the world! Every living thing you’ve ever seen with the naked eye fits in that box! Human beings, other animals and plants make up just a tiny fraction of all life – by far the dominant lifeform on Earth is the humble bacteria.

Woese et al (1990) Towards a natural system or organisms: Proposal for the domains Archaeae, Bacteria, and Eucarya, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 87, pp. 4576-4579. Download

What is it?

Researchers at Case Western University have genetically-altered mice to make a remarkable alteration in energy metabolism due to the over-expression of the gene for the enzyme phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases (PEPCK-C).

Wow!

These genetically engineered mice also eat 60 percent more than controls, but remain fitter, trimmer and live and breed longer than wild mice in a control group. Some female PEPCK-C mice have had offspring at 2.5 years of age, an amazing feat considering most mice do not reproduce after they are one year old … The PEPCK-C mice ran an average of 31.9 minutes, compared to 19 minutes for the control animals.

The PEPCK-C mouse ran six kilometres at 20 metres per minute. You can watch a video at Skycast and I recommend you do – they play the Rocky theme tune and it’s awesome.

ADDENDUM: Story from BBC.

“[It is] good enough for our transatlantic friends … but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.”
British Parliamentary Committee on Thomas Edison’s lightbulb, 1880.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1895.

“There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.”
Albert Einstein, 1932.

“Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons.”
Popular Mechanics magazine, 1949.

The new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilot helmet is not your average tin hat.

Ministry of Defence press release.