26Mar/08Off
Evolving the Wow! Factor
Dr Tatiana Olivia Judson continues her series on mutations. This week, beneficial ones:
Adaptation is the “wow!” factor of nature: when we see something spectacular or exquisite, we are typically looking at an adaptation. And what underpins adaptation is the appearance and spread of beneficial mutations: the process is not possible without them. Yet despite their central role in adaptive evolution, beneficial mutations have — until recently — received surprisingly little attention.