‘Genetic archeologists’ (see link below) in Norway and Switzerland have simplified one of the two supergroups into which evolutionary biologists have divided all life on Earth. The two main groups are prokaryotes, organisms that do not arrange their genetic material into a nucleus (bacteria) and eukaryotes, such as humans. The eukaryotes have been divided into four subgroups now, instead of five, which include: plants (including red and green algae), opisthokonts (humans, fungi, amoebas), excavates (parasites and free-living organisms) and the new group, SAR. The acronym stands for Stramenophiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria (SAR), and has been redefined due to the effort to examine 5000 genes, the largest number of genes from higher organisms to be studied at one time. Of those 5000 genes, 123 were found to be common among them all, and were given extra research attention. This new data forced the reorganization of the eukaryote branch.

• Tree of Life