NEWSWEEK - Wild tomatoes on the Galápagos Islands are rewinding millions of years of evolution, according to a new study.
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside found that these tomatoes—descended from South American ancestors likely brought to the Pacific archipelago by birds—are producing a toxic molecular cocktail not seen in millions of years.
Biologists described this as a rare and striking case of "reverse evolution."
Adam Jozwiak, a molecular biochemist at UC Riverside and lead author of the study, told Newsweek that while "de-evolution" makes for a striking headline, what we're really seeing is evolution taking an unexpected turn, reverting to a state that existed millions of years ago.