Tag: life

  • Adaptation Is Not Random

    Adaptation Is Not Random

    Since the biosphere started to become relevant on Earth’s surface, around 575.000.000 years ago, diverse microorganisms, macroorganisms, plants, and animals have all been shaped by the environmental conditions at Earth’s surface in a given space and time through their metabolism.

    Metabolism, in turn, is responsible for fabricating the genes that shape them throughout the years, with distinct species developing similar features throughout the same period of time. The intertwined relationship between a given environment and its inhabitant organisms is what the scattered fossil record humans have so far portrays.

    To illustrate, somewhere between 200,000,000 and 145,000,000 years ago, according to the fossil record, wings (as they are today) appeared together in both birds and insects.

    The same pattern appeared again 55.000.000 years ago. Spanning some 200.000 years, planet Earth’s surface temperatures hit a threshold of warm climate, with surface temperatures ranging from 5 to 8 degrees Celsius hotter than the long-term average inferred from geological records.

    Curiously, not all of the globe experienced the same warm temperatures. Data show that the poles managed to get warmer while the tropics maintained their temperature (a combination of global climate dynamics associated with Earth’s mantle activity can explain this phenomenon), with tropical forests occurring on all landmasses throughout Earth’s surface.

    In response to such a scenario, some terrestrial mammals adapted to life in trees started to appear in fossil records. These mammals, called primates, have a set of distinct characteristics to make use of the trees, such as mobile shoulder girdles (that allow them to climb trees), opposable thumbs (to hold branches better), and the presence of nails (to maintain a tight grip and perform fine motor movements).

    Continuing along the same line of thinking, by 50.000.000 years ago, there was a considerable rise in sea levels with increasing availability of marine organic matter and a decrease in terrestrial organic matter. Under such environmental pressures, terrestrial mammals transitioned to aquatic life, with whales and dolphins appearing in the fossil record around this time. In 2026, several studies confirmed these scenarios, including one from June 2026, which described a whale fossil whose teeth show an intermediate stage between the grinding teeth of land-dwelling ancestors and the sharper, slicing teeth of early aquatic predators.

    Last but not least, by 37.000.000 years ago, large lakes were present on Earth’s surface, making the largest terrestrial mammal—elephants—transition into a semi-aquatic lifestyle, explaining their furless skin, which humans can witness today.

    In this way, according to empirical evidence, organisms simply respond and adapt to their environmental conditions through their metabolism, primarily focused on their own reproduction and survival. 

    In the case that the organisms’ environmental conditions change to the point that it affects their metabolism, their metabolisms will change, and consequently, their genetic composition also changes, which may or may not give rise to a new species over the years. 

    Demystifying the relationship between environment and metabolism is not just an academic exercise. It is the foundation for understanding how the environments are shaping life today.

    The same forces that gave primates their opposable thumbs, whales their aquatic bodies, and elephants their furless skin are still at work. Humans are not exempt.

    The question is not whether life is being shaped. The question is whether humans will pay attention to what is being built.

    All references for this article that are not linked to the content can be found here.

  • What Life Actually Is

    What Life Actually Is

    Starting with the obvious, everything that exists on planet Earth is made out of the elements portrayed in the periodic table. 

    An atom of an element consists of an extremely dense nucleus made of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons, with negatively charged clouds – the electrons – orbiting the nucleus. The number of neutrons (isotopes) and the number of electrons (ions) can vary within the same element, therefore, what defines an element is the number of protons in its core (1 proton hydrogen, 2 protons helium, and so forth).

    Since the stars in the universe were ignited not earlier than 13.650.000.000 years ago, a reaction that occurs at their core called nuclear fusion has been “burning” hydrogen and helium, generating enormous amounts of energy and producing – as byproducts – atoms of different elements of the periodic table – up to iron (26) at the star core, up to Lead(82) at the star shell layers, and up to plutonium(94) in phenomena that can quickly generate a massive influx of neutrons (like a supernova). 

    Due to its position in the solar system, Planet Earth is made out of atoms from hydrogen(1) to plutonium(94), whose quantities and distribution within planetary layers were determined by its genesis processes. 

    At the physical conditions found on planet Earth, almost all atoms tend to bond with other atoms, and they do so through the lasting attraction between their electrons – originating molecules. 

    The molecules appear in all shapes, designs, and sizes – they can contain just two atoms of the same element (O2 oxygen gas, H2 hydrogen gas) as well as millions of atoms of different elements (RNA, DNA molecules). 

    Within all the elements that Earth is (and was) made of, one stands out as an excellent building block of molecules – carbon. Because of its intrinsic properties (number and configuration of its electrons), carbon atoms can attach with many different elements through a wide variety of bonds and shapes, enabling enormous molecules to take place (by definition, every molecule with a carbon bond is an organic molecule – for historical reasons some carbon compounds are considered inorganic). 

    Under some very specific circumstances atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen (elements that were and still are abundant on Earth) can fuse together (with smaller quantities of elements like phosphorus, sulfur, and iron) generating complex organic molecules.

    According to their composition, shape, and design, these complex organic molecules are classified as amino acids (building blocks of proteins and enzymes), lipids (building blocks of membranes), nucleotides (building blocks of genes – RNA and DNA molecules), and carbohydrates (also building blocks of genes and enzymes). 

    In order to forge these complex organic molecules, a special reaction must occur. 

    In a parallel, the same way that nuclear fusion in the stars needs certain environmental conditions to generate the energy loop that fabricates (as byproducts) the elements of the periodic table, the special reaction also needs certain (microscopic) environmental conditions to generate a (tiny) energy bolt loop that fabricates (as byproducts) the complex organic molecules. 

    This (tiny) energy loop requires a (microscopic) container with its internal walls electromagnetically charged (electrons of their atoms avid to bond), together with some fluid inside that provides atoms (the fuel) to react with the internal wall. Under these environmental conditions, a microscopic (atomic level) bolt of lightning is generated along the internal wall that reignites itself through a chain of chemical reactions that, in turn, fabricates (as byproducts) complex organic molecules (such as RNA, DNA). 

    This special reaction, this tiny lightning bolt loop fabricating complex organic molecules, is called metabolism. 

    This is an excerpt from my publication Beliefs of a Female Architect. If you enjoy science writing completely grounded in empirical evidence, it might be something for you.

    All sources that shaped this article are available at the publication Beliefs of a Female Architect.