When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Exaptation is a term used in evolutionary biology to describe a trait that has been co-opted for ...

Feathers work remarkably well for flight. Fairly rigid, yet light, with a lot of surface area to push against air molecules, they permit birds to soar to great heights. Yet scientists are now starting ...

It has usually been claimed that language is what makes humans uniquely human. However, I submit that it is the mind as a general problem-solving capacity for adaptations to current ecological ...

One of the most well known methodological criticisms of evolutionary psychology is Gould's claim that the program pays too much attention to adaptations, and not enough to exaptations. Almost as well ...

A computational study reveals surprising flexibility hidden within metabolic networks, providing new evidence for an evolutionary concept called exaptation. Evolution is littered with examples of ...

One of the most iconic images of the Pacific Northwest is the salmon run, when salmon return from the ocean, swimming upstream to their place of birth in order to spawn. This requires tremendous ...

David Farrier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

From Quanta Magazine (find original story here). Evolution is littered with examples of opportunism. Hosts infected by viruses found new uses for the genetic material the agents of disease left behind ...