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February 13, 2013

How Did Feathers Evolve?

Steven Novella, Skeptic Blog


AP Photo

The broader question is – how do complex features evolve when their utility would not come into effect until they were far along the path of evolving to their current form? What use is half an eye or half a wing? This question was rebranded in recent decades as the notion of “irreducible complexity,” but the essential question is the same.

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TAGGED: evolution, feathers, exaptation

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