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The 700-million-year history of our blood cells

Phys · · 543 words · By Kyoto University
Evolutionary Biology Hematology Scientific Research
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Researchers at Kyoto University have developed a new analytic method to trace the evolutionary history of blood cells over 700 million years. Their findings suggest that blood cells originated from macrophage-like ancestors and evolved through a series of branching lineages from single-celled progenitors.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 9
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The 700-million-year history of our blood cells Stephanie Baum Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor Almost all animal species—including humans—have blood cells, but between different species our blood tells different stories.

Why it matters

The lineage and components of blood cells vary widely, and this variety is a testament to how animals have evolved to protect themselves from infectious diseases.

Common ground

Probing the deep history of blood Thanks to advances in hematology and immunology, we now have detailed knowledge of the components and functions of both human and mouse blood cells.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Researchers at Kyoto University have developed a new analytic method to trace the evolutionary history of blood cells over 700 million years. Their findings suggest that blood cells originated from macrophage-like ancestors and evolved through a series of branching lineages from single-celled progenitors.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-million-year-history-blood-cells.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 8
info Single Source 1
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Claim 1: “prototypic B cells branched off from the macrophages after the segregation of mast cells”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources confirm that prototypic B cells branched off from macrophages after the segregation of mast cells.
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web search NEUTRAL — Furthermore, prototypic B cells branched off from the macrophages after the segregation of mast cells.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-million-year-history-blood-cel…
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web search NEUTRAL — Prototypic B cells, meanwhile, branched off from macrophages after mast cells had already separated. That pattern offers a proposed family tree spanning 700 million years. It connects today’s vertebra…
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/blood-cells-originated…
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web search NEUTRAL — Macrophages are the closest living relatives to our ancient single-celled ancestors. Their resemblance to these early organisms is so striking that researchers believe they represent the “prototypes” …
https://www.newsy-today.com/tracing-the-single-celled-origin…
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Claim 2: “Animals have expanded the evolutionary legacy of unicellular ancestors in blood cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528110123”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the content of the paper is corroborated by other news reports, the specific citation details (Title, 2026 date, and DOI) are not found in the provided evidence. The Wikipedia results for 2026 are general and do not mention this specific paper.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — PNAS Nexus is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal published by the National Academy of Sciences in partnership with Oxford University Press. PNAS Nexus was announced in 2021 as a new open-a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNAS_Nexus
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fossil archosaur research published in 2026 includes the description of new taxa, as well as other peer-reviewed publications on discoveries related to reptile paleontology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_archosaur_paleontology
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article records new taxa of fossil mammals of every kind that are scheduled to be described during the year 2026, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleontology of ma…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_paleomammalogy
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Claim 3: “the first blood cells emerged around the same time as the onset of multicellular animals”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (EurekAlert, etc.) state that the origin of blood cells can be traced back approximately 700 million years, coinciding with the era of single-celled ancestors/onset of multicellularity.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 700 (DCC) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 700th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 700th year of the 1st millennium, the 100th and las…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 700 (seven hundred) is the natural number following 699 and preceding 701. It is a composite number and the sum of four consecutive primes (167 + 173 + 179 + 181).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_(number)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 700 Club is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine pro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_700_Club
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “They then traced the gene FOS—commonly expressed in blood cells across animal species—back to a single-celled ancestor that lived 700 million years ago”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that the team traced the FOS gene back to a single-celled ancestor from 700 million years ago.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bouches-du-Rhône ( BOOSH dew ROHN; French: les Bouches-du-Rhône [le buʃ dy ʁon] , locally [le ˈbuʃə dy ˈʁɔnə]; Occitan: lei Bocas de Ròse [lej ˈbukɔz de ˈʀɔze]; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a departm…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouches-du-Rhône
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of all airline codes. The table lists the IATA airline designators, the ICAO airline designators and the airline call signs (telephony designator). Historical assignments are also inclu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_codes
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In economics, a perverse incentive is an incentive structure with undesirable results, particularly one where those effects are unexpected and contrary to the intentions of its designers. The results …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “prototypic T cells and red blood cells subsequently branched off from the mast cells”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Phys.org, etc.) confirm that prototypic T cells and red blood cells branched off/split from mast cells.
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web search NEUTRAL — 23 hours ago · After that, prototypic T cells and red blood cells split from mast cells. Prototypic B cells, meanwhile, branched off from macrophages after ...
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/blood-cells-originated…
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · Later, those mast cells split again, giving rise to red blood cells and prototypic T cells. Meanwhile, prototypic B cells made their own ...
https://interestingengineering.com/science/study-finds-human…
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · The team's analysis also revealed that mast cells branched off from the macrophages, and that prototypic T cells and red blood cells ...
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-million-year-history-blood-cel…
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Claim 6: “mast cells branched off from the macrophages”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results (Phys.org, etc.) explicitly state that mast cells branched off from macrophages.
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web search NEUTRAL — A comprehensive representation of the world and our place in it, as is found in religions, is known as a worldview. Cosmogony is the field that studies the origin or creation of the world, while escha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World
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web search NEUTRAL — Get all the latest news, live updates and content about the World from across the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world
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web search NEUTRAL — View CNN world news today for international news and videos from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
https://www.cnn.com/world
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Claim 7: “The work appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (EurekAlert, PMC, and others) link the research on the 700-million-year history of blood cells to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In 2015 INSA has constituted a junior wing for young scie…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Science_Academ…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Ac…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Academy_of_Sciences
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (often abbreviated PNAS or PNAS USA) is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_National_Ac…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “a team of researchers at Kyoto University to investigate when and how blood cells originated, and how they diversified”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that researchers at Kyoto University conducted this study, specifically mentioning the Kyoto University animal experiment committee's approval for the experiments.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kyoto ( or ; Japanese: 京都, Kyōto [kʲoꜜː.to] ), officially Kyoto City (京都市, Kyōto-shi; [kʲoː.toꜜ.ɕi] ), is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kyoto Institute of Technology (Japanese: 京都工芸繊維大学, Hepburn: Kyōto Kōgei Sen'i Daigaku) is a national university established in 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. The Institute's history extends back to two schools…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Institute_of_Technology
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kyoto University (京都大学, Kyōto daigaku), or KyotoU (京大, Kyōdai), is a national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_University
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 9: “macrophages showed the most striking resemblance to unicellular organisms”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results explicitly state that macrophages showed the most striking resemblance or strongest similarities to unicellular organisms.
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web search NEUTRAL — Here, we traced the evolutionary history of blood cells, and cross-species comparison of gene expression profiles revealed that phagocytes in various animal ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10653094/
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web search NEUTRAL — 6 hours ago ... Among the human blood cell lineages examined, macrophages showed the strongest similarities to unicellular organisms. This finding suggests ...
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260526022006.h…
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago ... Among the various lineages of human blood cells the team observed, macrophages showed the most striking resemblance to unicellular organisms ...
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260525/Researchers-trace…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.