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In his famous book " An anthropologist on Mars, " Oliver Sacks presents exotic cases of neural disorders, and while describing the seemingly extraterrestrial world of these patients, he unveils the hidden wonders in the brain of the " normal " majority. In the history of science, very often, the fascination for the abnormal, exotic and mysterious has paved the way for a deeper understanding of the apparently " conventional. " Cell biology is no exception to this rule. It seems that the era of channelling towards a few model systems accessible for molecular approaches is now progressively replaced by a wider approach towards the variations of life. The renewed interest for " off-track " models is certainly fuelled by the advances in se-quencing technologies that allow molecular insights even for models carried by only smaller research communities. Why are these " off-track " models important for science? New complex traits, such as new morphogenetical programmes, physiological achievements or metabolic pathways seem to emerge mainly from functional shifts of the underlying cellular and molecular events. These shifts would not be possible in systems where a function is exactly fitted to its current function. However, to quote a famous metaphor by François Jacob (1977), evolution is tinkering (and therefore neither design nor intelligent…), which means that most proteins are not exactly fitted, but in addition to their main function, maintain the ability for other hidden functions. In a different functional context, these moon-lighting functions (Kurakin 2005) can take the lead. The heter-ogenous group of " algae " comprising highly diverse life forms with a mostly phototropic lifestyle provides good examples to illustrate the case, and the study of these seemingly extraterres-trial models might help us to get track of one or the other " moonlighting function " hidden in the cell biology of " higher " life forms. The current issue assembles several fine examples of algal cell biology: The tinkering approach of evolution is neatly illustrated by the generation of new life forms through endocytosis. The review by Stork et al. (2013) in the current issue gives a survey on the current state of the highly dynamic and highly controversial field of secondary endosymbiosis with green or red algae (that unlike stated in the last editorial to the current state of knowledge arise from primary endosymbiosis, as noticed by attentive readers). Secondary endosymbiosis gave birth to many important groups of …

A cell biologist on Mars—the exotic world of algal cells