New Article in BIO-Complexity Addresses the Problem of Biological Innovation

One of the toughest problems for evolutionary biologists is to account for what might be called the problem of innovation -- the appearance of a new beneficial biological feature that did not previously exist. Put another way, evolution by natural selection can be defined as "the survival of the fittest," but evolution is unable to select for something that is not already there. It can only select among existing traits. When some new trait is required in order to survive, can evolution expla...