• Question: what the the shortest time it has taken for one of you projects to evolve?

    Asked by discostu4 to Tiffany on 20 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tiffany Taylor

      Tiffany Taylor answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      I’m working on something at the moment where we saw a massive change after only 48 hours.

      The speed of evolution depends on two things: how quickly new mutations appear in the DNA, and how big a change the mutation will cause (in other words, if the mutation is REALLY important for survival, or just a bit useful). If mutations happen a lot (like in bacteria) and the mutation it vital for the thing to survive (or grow), then you would expect to see things happen very quickly!

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