Every time the virus copies itself it makes mistakes, creating a trail that researchers can use to build a family tree with information about where it’s traveled, and when.
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Natural selection isn’t the only factor deciding human evolution.
How do scientists figure out when evolutionary events – like species splitting away from a common ancestor – happened? It turns out our DNA is a kind of molecular clock, keeping time via genetic changes.
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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biological Sciences, Columbia University
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Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach
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Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at The Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath
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Professor of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina
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PhD Student in Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina