More than 450 million years ago, the entire genetic instruction book of spiders’ and scorpions’ common ancestor doubled, according to a genomic comparison of the common house spider and the Arizona bark scorpion.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Rare Whole Genome Duplication Gave Rise To Arizona Bark Scorpion
I don’t know about you, but I could spend all day watching nature documentaries. Nature is endlessly fascinating, adaptive and, occasionally, just plain scary.
Take the insect world, for example. You can wax lyrical about butterfly wings all you like, but when it’s time to throw down — or just plain survive — you do not want to mess with an insect. They will end you, and I’ve 10 good reasons why: