Evolutionary kings of the hill use good, bad and ugly mutations to speed ahead of competition
Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 15:32
in Biology & Nature
Evolutionary adaptation is often compared to climbing a hill, and organisms making the right combination of multiple mutations -- both good and bad -- can become the king of the mountain, according to new research. Through computer simulations, researchers were able to watch evolution play out and see how populations use these combinations to evolve from one adaptive state to another.