Biology Newsfeed

[Perspective] Visualizing evolution as it happens

ScienceNOW - Fetched: September 8th, 2016, 4:00pm UTC

One of the greatest symbols of the birth of evolutionary biology is Darwin's first sketch of an evolutionary tree, above which he wrote: “I think.” Not only are evolutionary trees central to how scientists conceptualize evolutionary processes, Darwin's words also capture a key aspect of evolutionary science: It is difficult to observe, forcing researchers to rely heavily on inference. In recent decades, studies of fast-growing microorganisms have allowed hypotheses about evolutionary processes to be tested experimentally (1). On page 1147 of this issue, Baym et al. (2) report a device for visualizing evolutionary branching as bacteria grow across a meter-scale agar slab. The results offer important insights into evolutionary dynamics in spatially extended systems. Authors: Luke McNally, Sam P. Brown

Read more

Return to the Newsfeed