BY COLOURING the tree of life according to the highest temperature at which creatures can thrive, scientists have revealed the thermal history of evolution.
The tree shows that a scalding planet gave rise to heat-loving organisms, which gradually adapted to cooler environments as they became more complex. A similar pattern might underlie the evolution of life elsewhere in the universe, the researchers suggest, with life arising almost as soon as temperatures cool enough to allow liquid water, if other basic requirements are met.
Astrobiologists Charles Lineweaver of the University of New South Wales in Sydney and David Schwartzman of Howard…
