New York City doesn't seem like the ideal place to study evolution, but "evolution can happen much more rapidly in cities than had been appreciated," says scientist Jason Munshi-South, who is studying white-footed mice in NYC. The mice are "so genetically distinct" that they vary block to block. Additionally, city mice "seem to be evolving new traits that mice from rural areas outside the city lack: genetic mutations that may help them neutralize toxic metals in polluted soil, for example, or speed up their sperm in response to the intense sexual competition in their overcrowded metropolitan homes." [NYM]
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