directed

I was asked in an oral examination this past week by an ecology prof: “If an organism is shown to produce more beneficial mutations under stress, would that still be considered natural selection?” I didn’t know how to answer the question and made something up that was probably wrong...

I don't usually go in for those long involved video games, but this just might prove irresistible. It's by the same guy who did The Sims. Keep watching -- it gets more and more amazing as you go along. You can tell the audience he's demoing to is collectively going, "Holy crap!".

Evolution thoughts for today: directed evolution 1. We are fixated on germ cells. Somatic cells can evolve as well. A beneficial mutation in a somatic cell can be passed to its offspring. Adapted offspring can outcompete others. Cancer is one example, but is it possible to evolve a better...