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A comment on Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds. Parent comment

Re:Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds by aesch on Tuesday May 24, 2022 @08:33PM (#31499230)
Evolution doesn't take millions of years for fast reproducing microbes. Another example is Covid, we've already seen half a dozen evolutions (that we know about) within the past several years.
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Re:Bugs are evolving to eat plastic, study finds by brian_cloutier on Tuesday May 24, 2022 @10:42PM (#31500022)
To add to this, evolution typically happens _all at once_. Change does take a very long time but most of that time is spent in statis: everything has found its niche and lives in an equilibrium.

Once the environment changes (such as by introducing a whole new kind of food) species can very quickly adjust to the new reality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuated_equilibrium

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