Here’s a passage of scientific prose to savor:
It was widely thought that de novo evolution of genes was quite rare, because the proteins they code for are often large and complex — most fail to function properly if a single key component is out of place, so randomly evolving a working gene seemed implausible.
When an international team of researchers scanned the human genome for de novo genes, however, they putatively uncovered 60, three times more than once estimated.
The source? Scientific American (“Late Bloomers: ‘New’ Genes May Have Played a Role in Human Brain Evolution,” Nov. 18).
Translation?
- Evolution predicts X.
- We observe ~X.
- Well, go figure. Evolution predicts X and ~X.