Modern Day Evolution: Atlantic Tomcod

So I wanted to give you a small post today but my planned post fell through. So i'm pulling this bit from the past, as I don't have the time to create at the moment, (even something so small) but will be updating a little later today as well!  As i'll explain later, i'm hoping to develop a bit better blogging system. So please enjoy this snippet about The Persistance of Life.



The beautiful landscapes and habitats that cover the globe are degrading all the time. With the aid of humans recently, it's been working a lot faster. Yet even as one communities dies, a new one emerges.  What I enjoy, is the persistence of life.  We as humans, are constantly destroying the natural areas around us with pollution, drilling, mining and industry. Yet animals to this day are still evolving and adapting to deal with these harsh changes.

For example I recommend reading about the Atlantic Tomcods of the Hudson river. A fish to have actually altered their DNA to modify "... a gene encoding a protein known to regulate the toxic effects of PCBs and related chemicals, called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor2, or AHR2." (1)  So basically, they found the piece of DNA the toxins would gravitate to and would cause the mutations of the cells, (and ultimately death) and got rid of them.

Also check out this article featuring other animals still evolving!