5 Times Evolution Should Have Planned Ahead

Natural selection can lead to some pretty amazing adaptations, but sometimes the resulting traits aren’t the most efficient solutions to the problems at hand. With the bar set to “good enough,” here are some features that arose from evolution which get the job done in strange or roundabout ways.

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Sources:
Photosynthesis
http://doi.org/10.2210/rcsb_pdb/mom_2000_11
http://doi.org/10.1199/tab.0130
https://doi.org/10.1042/bss0610001
http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1737
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/photosynthesis-in-plants/photorespiration--c3-c4-cam-plants/a/c3-c4-and-cam-plants-agriculture
https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ern081
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.066
https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erw156

Marsupials
http://www.academia.edu/download/45849422/The_marsupial_pouch_implications_for_rep20160522-22723-1vg6ypc.pdf
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zunYrumtsR8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA213&dq=marsupial+sex+organs&ots=3DsCMRupXv&sig=ReCoxZM96w1nMLWaNIgI_tozEes#v=onepage&q=marsupial%20sex%20organs&f=false
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228671434_To_replace_or_not_to_replace_The_significance_of_reduced_functional_tooth_replacement_in_marsupial_and_placental_mammals

The RLN
https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/why-evolution-isnt-perfect
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470179/
https://doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0019
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1901.01560.pdf

Eyes
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/side_0_0/eyeworks_01
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/change/grand/page06.html
https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrn2283
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-008-0091-2
https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2017.226


Bipedalism
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/02/human-evolution-gain-came-pain
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics4030060
https://doi.org/10.1038/46965
https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/AJA00382353_7777
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.10058
https://jaoa.org/aoa/content_public/journal/jaoa/938176/622.pdf

Image Sources:
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https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/ripe-sorghum-milo-millet-crop-field-in-rows-gm503285337-44539474
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/a-mother-opossum-with-its-four-babies-on-the-pavement-gm145992459-6021241
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/kangaroo-and-joey-gm183412961-15481964
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/koala-with-joey-gm1043281514-279279126
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pretty-faced-wallaby-gm1187266245-335312813
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/western-grey-kangaroos-hopping-in-the-pinnacles-desert-near-cervantes-in-western-gm1280454033-378751604
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https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pharaoh-cuttlefish-sepia-pharaonis-his-right-eye-north-sulawesi-indonesia-gm97881808-12318152
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https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/3d-illustration-of-human-body-spinal-bone-anatomy-gm952777260-260108613