Darwin Revisited: Modern Data Sheds Light on Ancient Evolutionary Theories

Ever since Darwin introduced his groundbreaking theory of evolution, biologists have been captivated by the complex processes that enable species to evolve.

Can mechanisms responsible for the evolution of a species over a few generations, called microevolution, also explain how species evolve over periods of time extending to thousands or millions of generations, also called macroevolution?

A new paper, just published in Science, shows that the ability of populations to evolve and adapt over a few generations, called evolvability, effectively helps us understand how evolution works on much longer timescales.