Greek alphabet Phoenician vowel letters

Greek writing added letters for vowel sounds

The Phoenician writing system used letters for consonants, but not vowels. When the Greeks adapted it, they reused some letters for vowel sounds. Greek became the earliest alphabet in the strict sense: a writing system with letters for both vowels and consonants.

Stolen photosynthesis parts can pass along a food chain

The ciliate Mesodinium rubrum takes chloroplasts from the plankton Geminigera cryophila. It can then pass those parts, which let cells photosynthesize, to predatory Dinophysis. The stolen photosynthesis machinery can move from one organism to another along a food chain.

The word “religion” does not fit every culture

The modern idea of religion took shape in the West, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many cultures had no equivalent word and did not separate sacred life from everyday life in the same way. Applying the label can therefore impose a distinction they did not make.

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Greek alphabet Phoenician vowel letters

Greek writing added letters for vowel sounds

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