EARTH.COM - Wild tomatoes rooted on the raw lava of Fernandina and Isabela Islands have done something biologists once filed under “nearly impossible,” reviving a molecular defense that disappeared from their relatives millions of years ago during species evolution. The phenomenon has been traced to a tiny tweak in the plants’ chemistry, and it now...
DAILY GALAXY - In an unexpected discovery, researchers have found that wild tomatoes in the Galápagos Islands seem to be evolving in reverse. This fascinating phenomenon, previously thought to be rare, suggests that evolution isn’t always a straightforward process. The finding, which challenges conventional wisdom, could lead to exciting breakthroughs in genetic research. Tomatoes Turning...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - Some tomatoes growing on the Galápagos Islands appear to be going back in time by producing the same toxins their ancestors did millions of years ago. Scientists describe this development—a controversial process known as “reverse evolution”—in a June 18 paper published in the journal Nature Communications. Tomatoes are nightshades, a group of...
ZME SCIENCE - On the Galápagos Islands, wild tomatoes are producing molecules not seen since the Ice Age, reversing a genetic trajectory millions of years in the making. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of California, Riverside and the Weizmann Institute of Science have documented a rare and striking example...
POPULAR MECHANICS - The famous ape-to-man illustration, known as The March of Progress, depicts evolution as a one-way street toward evolutionary perfection—but nature isn’t always so simple. Many organisms have displayed what appears to be “reverse evolution,” or regression, where ancient attributes of past ancestors seem to reappear down the evolutionary line. Cave fish, for...
THE WEEK - Some tomatoes have evolved to possess the characteristics of their ancestors. While it is rare, there have been instances of species displaying traits from further back in evolution. But for the first time, scientists have now been able to prove it through genetic evidence. And there's potential for similar evolutionary changes in...
BGR - We know that the world and its various inhabitants, from plants to animals, are still evolving. In fact, some even believe that humans are actively evolving in different parts of the world right now. But a group of plants found in the Galápagos archipelago might be doing the opposite and de-evolving. Researchers argue...
EARTH.COM - Evolution is taking an unexpected turn on the volcanic islands of the western Galápagos. Wild tomato plants are producing a toxic blend of chemicals that hasn’t existed in their species for millions of years. Somehow, these plants have started making molecules more like eggplants than the modern tomato. This bizarre twist in evolution...
NEW ATLAS - The evolutionary ladder is meant to be climbed one rung at a time with an organism shedding some traits and gaining others on the way up. However, in a very surprising twist, some tomatoes on the Galapagos islands are inching back down the ladder. When they found the backwards-reaching plants, researchers from...
BBC WILDLIFE MAGAZINE - Evolution is commonly thought of as a process that creates new and more complicated traits. But this is not always the case. On the youngest islands of the Galápagos archipelago, wild tomato plants have adapted to their environment by producing toxins identical to those used by their ancestors millions of years...