The genomic mutation rate of the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, which inhabits a harsh and potentially mutagenic environment, surprisingly agrees well with the previously observed constancy of genomic mutation rates in microbes. The evolutionary explanation for this constancy of genomic mutation rates remains obscure.

formed contractually, signs in literature are often symbolic in nature. the poems and paintings of sohrab sepehri, the contemporary iranian poet and painter, are imbued with such signs which, if decoded, are rendered more tangible and more intelligible. sepehri’s signs have their origins in nature and hindu and buddhist mysticism. with his mystical intuition and platonic aesthetics, sepehri has...