Anna Cacciaglia interviews the Wittkopp Lab and finds out "How can we study evolution if the process takes thousands of years?"

"We may be used to thinking of evolution as the cause of big changes, such as the emergence of a brand new trait or species. But evolution really takes place on a much smaller scale, from the compounding of slight changes to individual genomes. While the evolution of novel traits like opposable thumbs or feathers doesn't usually take place on a timescale practical for observation, these huge developments result from many small changes; changes which can be possible to examine in the lab. Using DNA analysis as their guide, researchers have developed ways to study both short and long term changes in the genome, and more completely understand what might be the most important theory in biology."

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