This is an interesting, readable report on an automated procedure for experimenting on evolution of microorganisms that will be good to try out with microorganisms other than yeast. Figuring out the different gene interactions over many generations of random mutations will eventually develop a deeper understanding of how these one-celled organisms work. And that, as an expert interviewed for the article suggested, will help deepen understanding of evolution as a process. "'I think many people think about one gene for one trait, a deterministic way of evolution solving problems,' said David Reznick, a biologist at the University of California, Riverside. 'This says that’s not true; you can evolve to be better suited to the environment in many ways.'"
Scaling up this approach to study multicellular organisms with longer generation times than yeast will of course take a lot of time and effort. Sometimes (as here) experiments on simple model organisms produce surprising findings. There will be even more surprising findings, I think, as evolution is studied in more detail in multicellular organisms at the molecular genetic level with strict experimental controls of developmental environments.
EDIT TO REPLY TO ANOTHER COMMENT:
Another participant asked,
I feel like a CS education should prepare one for this kind of field. What's a good way to get started learning more about evolution?
It will indeed take a lot of hard work by experienced computer scientists to solve some problems in evolutionary theory. A quite good way to start learning about evolution is to read the book Why Evolution Is True, which talks not only about evidence for evolution but also about implications of the theory. Then read the book's website[1] frequently for the latest news.
Other good things to read are the books by biologist Sean Carroll (not to be confused with physicist Sean Carroll) such as Endless Forms Most Beautiful.[2]
The public perception of evolution misses out on the depth of scientific work being done these days. Two more books that make modern evolutionary research accessible to the public:
1. Nick Lane's Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life - Covers the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, why it's such insanely chance event, why multicellular life depends on it, almost as an aside making a great argument that complex multicellular life is extremely rare in the universe. Also has a couple of fascinating chapters on how the interaction of the mitochondrial genome with the nuclear genome influenced development of sexes and sex.
2. Nick Lane's Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution - Covers very different material and again all fucking fascinating. It's amazing to see how things like sight have evolved over and over and over because they're so fucking useful, and the genetic analysis that allows us to pick out each separate emergence of a feature.
Scaling up this approach to study multicellular organisms with longer generation times than yeast will of course take a lot of time and effort. Sometimes (as here) experiments on simple model organisms produce surprising findings. There will be even more surprising findings, I think, as evolution is studied in more detail in multicellular organisms at the molecular genetic level with strict experimental controls of developmental environments.
EDIT TO REPLY TO ANOTHER COMMENT:
Another participant asked,
I feel like a CS education should prepare one for this kind of field. What's a good way to get started learning more about evolution?
It will indeed take a lot of hard work by experienced computer scientists to solve some problems in evolutionary theory. A quite good way to start learning about evolution is to read the book Why Evolution Is True, which talks not only about evidence for evolution but also about implications of the theory. Then read the book's website[1] frequently for the latest news.
Other good things to read are the books by biologist Sean Carroll (not to be confused with physicist Sean Carroll) such as Endless Forms Most Beautiful.[2]
[1] http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Forms-Most-Beautiful-Science/d...