Feature Life

The tree of life gets a makeover

Schoolroom kingdoms are taking a backseat to life’s supergroups

choanoflagellates, panda, mushroom

STRANGE RELATIONS  People, pandas, and even mushrooms perch as closer cousins to single-celled choanoflagellates than to other multicellular organisms. 

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

The tree of life might seem like a stable design, appropriate for indelible ink. Plenty of people think so. An Internet search for “phylogenetic tattoos” turns up some showy skin art.