1.

In the face of Hubbles evidence, Einstein was also forced to abandon his
idea of a force of cosmic repulsion, calling it the biggest blunder he had
ever made. But others, notably the Russian physicist Alexander
Friedmann and the Belgian priest and physicist Georges Lematre, had
already used Einsteins own theory of prove that the universe was in fact in
motion, either contracting or expanding. It is now recognized
that Einsteins description of gravity as the curvature of space-time in
his General Theory of Relativity was actually one of the first indications of
a universe which had grown out of much humbler beginnings.

And, as we will see later, Einsteins biggest blunder may actually turn out
to have been one of his most prescient predictions.

The life cycle of a typical fern consists of two distinct stages or phases as
follows:

A sporophyte (diploid) phase produces spores by meiosis

A spore grows by cell division into a haploid prothallus (a gametophyte
phase)
Prothallus produces gametes
Male gamete fertilizes a female gamete in the prothallus
The fertilized gamete (diploid zygote) grows by cell division into a
sporophyte (the "fern" plant)
Life cycle of a typical fern:

1) A sporophyte (diploid) phase produces haploid spores by meiosis.

2) A spore grows by mitosis into a gametophyte, which typically consists of
a photosynthetic prothallus.
3) The gametophyte produces gametes (often both sperm and eggs on the
same prothallus) by mitosis.
4) A mobile, flagellate sperm fertilizes an egg that remains attached to the
prothallus.
5) The fertilized egg is now a diploid zygote and grows by mitosis into a
sporophyte (the typical "fern" plant).