At the head of that list was what the English biologist Richard Dawkins called the evolutionary arms race. This is where a plant, say, evolves ever tougher surfaces and ever more noxious chemical repellents to fend off hungry insects, even as the insects are evolving ever stronger jaws and ever more sophisticated chemical resistance mechanisms to press the attack. Also known as the Red Queen hypothesis, in honor of the Lewis Carroll character who told Alice that she had to run as fast as she could to stay in the same place, the evolutionary arms race seems to be a major impetus for
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