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Stresses and strains: the evolution of Covid is not random

The evolution of the virus is not random

6 February 2021

9:00 AM

6 February 2021

9:00 AM

In the genetic diaspora of an epidemic, there is ferocious competition between strains of virus to get to the next victim first. That leads to apparently purposeful outcomes, as if the virus had a mind. One of the things people find hardest to grasp about evolution is that it appears purposeful but the mutations on which it feeds are random.

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