In a New York Times article entitled "A living time capsule shows the human mark on evolution", Dr Luisa Orsini of the School of Bisociences describes how the hatching of 700 year old eggs of the water flea Daphnia presents a biological archive enabling researchers to go back in time.
Dr Orsini goes on to predict that, in the future, scientists would find other biological archives that would shed more light on evolutionary impacts. By measuring changes in the past, it may be possible to predict how different species will cope with challenges in the future.
Dr Orsini is a molecular ecologist working at the interface of ecology, evolution and genetics/genomics. Her research interest is understanding how natural populations adapt and evolve in response to environmental changes. She uses as a model system the water flea Daphnia magna, a keystone species in lakes and ponds across Europe.
Read the full New York Times article here