{"672745":{"#nid":"672745","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"\u2018Living Fossil\u2019 Lizards Are Constantly Evolving\u2014You Just Can\u2019t See It","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEvolution can perform spectacular makeovers: today\u0027s airborne songbirds descended from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/how-birds-evolved-from-dinosaurs\/\u0022\u003Ewingless, earthbound dinosaurs\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;that roamed millions of years ago, for example. But some organisms seem to change very little, even over eons.\u0026nbsp;Scientists have long wondered how these species withstand the pressures of natural selection. The prevailing hypothesis for this \u201cstasis paradox\u201d has been that natural selection keeps some species unchanged by selecting for moderate or average traits (so-called stabilizing selection) rather than selecting for more extreme traits that would cause a species to change (directional selection). But a study published\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2222071120\u0022\u003Ein the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;contradicts this idea, showing that evolution constantly favors different traits in seemingly unchanging animals that improve short-term survival. In the long term, though, \u201call that evolution cancels out and leads to no change,\u201d says the study\u0027s lead author, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/james-stroud\u0022\u003EJames Stroud\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor and Elizabeth Smithgall-Watts Endowed Faculty in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEvolution can perform spectacular makeovers: today\u0027s airborne songbirds descended from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/how-birds-evolved-from-dinosaurs\/\u0022\u003Ewingless, earthbound dinosaurs\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;that roamed millions of years ago, for example. But some organisms seem to change very little, even over eons.\u0026nbsp;Scientists have long wondered how these species withstand the pressures of natural selection. The prevailing hypothesis for this \u201cstasis paradox\u201d has been that natural selection keeps some species unchanged by selecting for moderate or average traits (so-called stabilizing selection) rather than selecting for more extreme traits that would cause a species to change (directional selection). But a study published\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2222071120\u0022\u003Ein the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;contradicts this idea, showing that evolution constantly favors different traits in seemingly unchanging animals that improve short-term survival. In the long term, though, \u201call that evolution cancels out and leads to no change,\u201d says the study\u0027s lead author, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/james-stroud\u0022\u003EJames Stroud\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor and Elizabeth Smithgall-Watts Endowed Faculty in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2024-02-05 19:37:14","changed_gmt":"2024-02-05 19:37:14","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Scientific American","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/living-fossil-lizards-are-constantly-evolving-you-just-cant-see-it\/","dateline":{"date":"2024-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"193037","name":"James Stroud"},{"id":"7802","name":"evolutionary biology"},{"id":"193150","name":"lizards"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}