In dynamic scientific fields, two decades can be an eternity, with technical and conceptual advances leading to drastically changed landscapes and paradigms. Noted natural philosopher Ferris Bueller once opined, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t look around once in a while, you could miss it”, and at the 20-year anniversary of BMC Biology, it is worth a “look around” at the field of evolutionary protistology. Things look quite differently today than they did when BMC Biology was founded.

Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution Department of Genetics Evolution and the Environment University College London London WC1E 6BT UK

Division of Infectious Diseases Department of Medicine and Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta 1 124 Clinical Sciences Building 11350 83 Avenue Edmonton T6G 2G3 Canada

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 České Budějovice 37005 Czech Republic

School of Applied Sciences University of Huddersfield Queensgate Huddersfield HD1 3DH UK

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