The Unique Merger That Made You (and Ewe, and Yew)

[dnetesn]

http://nautil.us/issue/17/big-bangs/the-unique-merger-that-made-you-and-ewe-and-yew

[tomp]

This is quite some exaggeration.

then all eukaryotes—every flower and fungus, spider and sparrow, man and woman—descended from a sudden and breathtakingly improbable merger between two microbes.

Except that it happened at least twice - besides the mitochondria (explained in the article), there's also the plastids that probably have the same origin (e.g. the Chloroplast - the photosynthesizing organelle in plant cells).

[MadManE]

I thought this was going to be about homophones. . .

[stcredzero → MadManE]

I thought it was going to be about homophones in historical linguistics.

[meepmorp → MadManE]

Yeah, I expected a discussion of vowel mergers.

Who says cot and caught the same? How about merry, marry, and Mary? We can make our own phonological fun.

[grimman → MadManE]

That's certainly the impression the title gives.