Horizontal gene transfer or HGT - genetic matter we don't inherit but acquire sideways, if you please, virally from other organisms, even other species. Roughly 8 percent of the human genome ...

As a further argument, Ford pointed out that a recently-published tree of life that was based on proteins that hadn't undergone horizontal gene transfer was built using only 31 proteins.

Typical horizontal lighting involves laying the string lights on top of the tree’s branches. Unfortunately, this means that, if your tree has large gaps or spaces between each layer of branches ...

Rasmussen said with storms like the recent one, he goes on patrol looking for "horizontal trees." He added that, with the 16,000 acres of trees he is responsible for, it might be months before he ...

NPR's Scott Simon asks science writer David Quammen about horizontal gene transfer and how it changes how we think about humankind's place in the world. Quammen's new book is The Tangled Tree.