{"681708":{"#nid":"681708","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"How Did Multicellular Life Evolve?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHow life on Earth evolved from unicellular to multicellular organisms remains a mystery, though evidence indicates that this may have occurred multiple times independently. To understand what could have happened,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/william-ratcliff\u0022\u003EWill Ratcliff\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, has been conducting long-term evolution experiments on yeast in which multicellularity develops and emerges spontaneously.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn a recent episode of \u201cThe Joy of Why\u201d podcast, Ratcliff discusses what his \u201csnowflake yeast\u201d model could reveal about the origins of multicellularity, the surprising discoveries his team has made, and how he responds to skeptics who question his approach.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHow life on Earth evolved from unicellular to multicellular organisms remains a mystery, though evidence indicates that this may have occurred multiple times independently. To understand what could have happened,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/william-ratcliff\u0022\u003EWill Ratcliff\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, has been conducting long-term evolution experiments on yeast in which multicellularity develops and emerges spontaneously.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn a recent episode of \u201cThe Joy of Why\u201d podcast, Ratcliff discusses what his \u201csnowflake yeast\u201d model could reveal about the origins of multicellularity, the surprising discoveries his team has made, and how he responds to skeptics who question his approach.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-04-09 20:06:18","changed_gmt":"2025-04-10 14:33:26","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Quanta Magazine ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/how-did-multicellular-life-evolve-20250320\/","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"176339","name":"multicellularity"},{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}