Adult burying beetles sometimes look after their offspring Andrew Newman Nature Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo
An evolution experiment involving beetles has provided the first direct evidence that caring for offspring results in the accumulation of more genetic mutations in a population.
Some of the mutations are likely to be harmful, but there is also a positive side, as having more variation may allow populations to adapt and evolve more quickly when circumstances change.
“You’re holding in a lot of deleterious stuff,” says Rahia Mashoodh at the University of Cambridge. “But also, you’re holding in potentially a lot …
