Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following Why Ranks Sign Up
Marta Álvarez-Presas

Marta Álvarez-Presas

Senior Author, Project Co-Lead

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

Some genetic adaptations appear strikingly predictable, emerging again and again in response to life on land.

Evolution is both predictable and contingent. Patterns are repeated, but never identically.

Stories

Genomic study reveals predictable patterns in how animals conquered land

New Capabilities

Researcher at University of Barcelona

In 1989, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that if you could rewind evolution and play it again, the results would be utterly different—humanity was a cosmic accident. A study published in Nature on November 12, 2025 offers the most comprehensive counterargument yet: when 11 different animal lineages independently crawled out of the water across 487 million years, they repeatedly evolved the same genetic solutions.

Updated Feb 10