«They are not turned off by the new compound that evolves,» which gives it a chance to spread through the population of males without being selected against. (sciencemag.org)
We can think of this shape as a neutral evolutionary trait that gradually spread through the population, he says. (newscientist.com)
Then, by looking at the variability in the DNA surrounding the mutation, the team could figure out how long ago the mutation spread through the population. (discovermagazine.com)