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"Streetcar Carries Evolution Modelers Around Roadblocks," by Nigel Williams. Science, 8 March 1996, pages 1365-1366.
This article discusses efforts by evolutionary biologists to use game theory to model evolution. In particular, some of these researchers have attempted to model ways in which genes could evolve over time to increase their evolutionary fitness. Often, these models stall in an equilibrium state, even though the combination of genes in the model is far from the fittest possible. Theoretical biologist Peter Hammerstein at the Max Planck Institute for Physiology and Behavior in Sweewiesen, Germany has tried to get around this problem with a new twist on the model. He found that adding a large number of mutant genes has the effect of kick-starting the system when it stalls in an equilibrium. This keeps the evolutionary "streetcar" running forward, despite a few stops along its way. Some biologists believe that this model reflects well observed patterns in evolution.
-Allyn Jackson
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