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Ferns’ ability to evolve ‘backward’ offers insights into the meandering path of evolution

  • Written by Jacob S. Suissa, Assistant Professor of Plant Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee
imageUnfurling fiddlehead of the Christmas fern (_Polystichum acrostichoides_).Jacob S. Suissa, CC BY-ND

Imagine a photograph of your great-grandparents, grandparents and parents side by side. You’d see a resemblance, but each generation would look distinct from its predecessors. This is the process of evolution in its simplest form: descent with...

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