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"TRANSITIONS in sexual systems are hypothesized to be affected by large genomic events such as whole-genome duplication, or polyploidy, and several models have been proposed to explain the observed patterns of association." https://lnkd.in/e-bMaHt View in LinkedIn

LATE DEVELOPMENT. "Unlike in most animals, where the germline is set aside early in embryogenesis, the plant germline is determined only late in development, during floral organ formation." A critical distinction. http://dev.biologists.org/content/develop/142/2/229.full.pdf View in LinkedIn

PLANT REPRODUCTION. "Flowering plants display a variety of sexual systems, ranging from complete cosexuality (hermaphroditism) to separate-sexed individuals (dioecy). While dioecy is relatively rare, it has evolved many times and is present in many plant families." https://lnkd.in/e-bMaHt View in LinkedIn

BIOLOGISTS love to see a world in a grain of sand, and in recent years have even ventured into the quantum world, a logical extension of the magnifying glass. Equally, they are happy to describe those microscopic entities in analogy with astrological universes. But, overall, that is where it stops. https://lnkd.in/eEV837k View in LinkedIn

LIFE IN THE SLITHER. There must be biological consequences of living in a scale sandwich, but we have never asked that question, it seems. View in LinkedIn

THE SLITHER IN THE MIDDLE. Life is trapped between the infinitesimally tiny and the astronomically gargantuan in a a tiny slither of scale 10(-6) to 10(2). The smallest thing in existence, the Planck Particle, is 1.5 x 10(-34) meters. Living things range from 1 x10(-7) meters (a virus) to 1 x 10(2) meters (a blue whale); the estimated entire, but expanding, universe is a staggering 1 x 10(27) meters. (Nikon’s lovely interactive graphic). http://www.nikon.com/about/sp/universcale/scale.htm View in LinkedIn

A SNIPPETY TRIFLE. “The subject of this book is the structure of space-time on length-scales from 10(-13) cm, the radius of an elementary particle, up to 10(28) cm, the radius of the universe.” (The singular Stephen Hawking). Biologists could no sooner embrace this kind of immense thinking than fly to the moon. We are earth-bound creatures. https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking View in LinkedIn

STEPHEN HAWKING. “The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. We are so insignificant that I can't believe the whole universe exists for our benefit. That would be like saying that you would disappear if I closed my eyes.” https://lnkd.in/e_qnKhM View in LinkedIn

HUMANS AT THE CROWN OF CREATION. “Zaphod “had seen the whole universe stretching to infinity around him—everything. And with it had come the clear and extraordinary knowledge that he was the most important thing in it.” https://lnkd.in/eHpXX48 View in LinkedIn

PERSPECTIVE LOST. “I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced.” (Michael Collins, astronaut). https://lnkd.in/eU4ZQBy View in LinkedIn