... the only factors responsible for the direction of evolutionary change. Through random mutations a population's genes explore the neighboring portions of "design space" (the set of all possible genetic configurations). Through natural selection, those genes that confer adaptive advantages are passed on with greater frequency. Selection is thus an automatic impersonal process following an algorithm (a formal rule ... remain today. Thereafter few new phyla appeared -- even when mass extinctions (such as those caused by the impact of comets) opened up new ecological niches; instead, extensiv...

• Word Count: 7861
• Approx Pages: 31
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate