Words&Dirt

“Unlike mutation, the rapid acquisition of new, highly refined traits by acquisition and integration of former strangers confers immediate selective advantages on protoctist, plant, or animal captors.  Often the association begins as predatory: One organism attempts to ingest and digest the other, which resists.  The subdued prey or undigested bacterium leads to a trapped population.  […]

“Wolf Larsen was unconscious, but it was a matter of minutes for the fresh air to restore him.  We were working over him, however, when he signed for paper and pencil. ‘Pray do not interrupt me,’ he wrote.  ‘I am smiling.’ ‘I am still a bit of the ferment, you see,’ he wrote a little […]