New finding: 600M years ago, a single mutation changed everything
One common objection to the theory of evolution claims that the theory is self contradictory. It says that it is impossible for complex features such as wings, eyes etc to evolve because they will require a series of mutations that do not individually confer any evolutionary advantage. Since they do not have any evolutionary advantage, they cannot spread in the population. Therefore the chance of these mutations appearing in series is almost as small as these mutations appearing simultaneously. The chance of these mutations appearing simultaneously is, of course, astronomically small.<p>The usual counterargument says that just one mutation is usually enough to create a functional prototype of a complex feature&#x2F;organ (MVP, if you please). A series of mutations is not required.<p>This study provides yet another example backing this counterargument. One single mutation can change an unicellular entity and make it behave like a multi cellular organism. Intuitively, one would think this would take many mutations. However, intuition is wrong in this case, and in many others.