Supergenes can also complicate the process of mating. In some species, supergenes create a breeding system that in effect has four sexes. Because of a supergene in the North American birds called white-throated sparrows, for example, there are two “morphs” with dissimilar coloration and behaviors. Not only do males have to find females, but they must find a partner from the opposing morph. Otherwise, offspring will die either from inheriting supergenes from both parents or from inheriting none. Only chicks that receive a “balanced lethal” inheritance of one supergene and one ordinary segment of chromosome survive.
With such a steep price, it’s a wonder that supergenes evolved at all, Berdan says. “Any set of variants is going to be really hard to maintain, especially over millions of generations,” she said. “That’s one of the big mysteries of supergenes.” She suggested that multiple types of selection might be working together to preserve supergenes, and that certain environments might be most conducive to their persistence in the population.
Ironically, one of the mechanisms that can sometimes preserve supergenes seems to be recombination — the phenomenon that they normally resist. Amanda Larracuente, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Rochester, and her coauthors described such a case last April in eLife.
Larracuente wasn’t initially interested in supergenes or their evolutionary costs. Her focus was on selfish genes, segments of DNA that proliferate in populations without benefiting their hosts. She was fascinated by a selfish gene called Segregation Distorter (SD) that arose in certain fruit flies in Zambia and skews the sex ratio of their offspring. “It’s a sperm killer,” she explained, but it only kills sperm that doesn’t carry a chromosome with SD.
Sometime within the last 3,000 years, one version of SD ensnared a large piece of chromosomal DNA, creating a supergene known as SD-Mal that spread to fruit fly populations throughout Africa. “It’s really the ultimate selfish gene,” Larracuente said.
DNA sequencing and analysis by Larracuente, Daven Presgraves and their colleagues showed that chromosomes with SD-Mal accumulate harmful mutations, as predicted by the near-complete lack of recombination between SD-Mal and its sister chromosome. But the researchers didn’t find as many mutations as they expected.
The reason, they discovered, is that occasionally a fly will inherit two chromosomes with SD-Mal — and those two supergenes are just similar enough to allow some recombination between them. That recombination in turn makes it possible for a few harmful mutations to be purged from the flies’ supergenes over time.
“As it turns out, just a little bit of recombination is enough,” Larracuente said. She and Presgraves are now looking for other SD supergenes in wild fruit fly populations for clues to the evolution and impacts of supergenes more generally.
Their results show that the purifying effects of recombination on genomes never cease to be important. The complex traits that the stable, predictable inheritance of supergenes makes possible may be invaluable in helping species adapt, but even the supergenes can benefit from mixing things up once in a while.
n","settings":{"socialLinks":[{"type":"facebook","label":"Facebook","url":"https://www.facebook.com/QuantaNews","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"twitter","label":"Twitter","url":"https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"youtube","label":"YouTube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/c/QuantaScienceChannel","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"instagram","label":"Instagram","url":"https://instagram.com/quantamag","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"},{"type":"rss","label":"RSS","url":"https://api.quantamagazine.org/feed/","__typename":"SocialMediaLink"}],"newsletterAction":"https://quantamagazine.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=0d6ddf7dc1a0b7297c8e06618&id=f0cb61321c","newsletterUrl":"http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=0d6ddf7dc1a0b7297c8e06618&id=f0cb61321c","sfNotice":"An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.","commentsHeader":"
n","channels":[{"title":"The Joy of Why","slug":"the-joy-of-why","description":"The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time.","featured_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-520x293.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-1720x968.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1-768x432.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoW_Quanta_2560x1440-1-1.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/Jaki-King-General-Quanta_600.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joy-of-why/id1608948873","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/2FoxHraQSKwxV2HgUfwLMp","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvdGhlLWpveS1vZi13aHk","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-joy-of-why","__typename":"Channel"},{"title":"Quanta Science Podcast","slug":"quanta-podcast","description":"Susan Valot narrates in-depth news episodes based on Quanta Magazine's articles about mathematics, physics, biology and computer science. ","featured_image":{"alt":"Micrograph of a neuron showing aggregations of tau protein.","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-520x293.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-1720x968.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-768x432.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/06/Aging_agregates_2880x1620_Lede-scaled.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000.jpg","width":3000,"height":3000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-1720x1720.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-768x768.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/logo_Quanta-Podcast-3000x3000-2880x2880.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/quanta-science-podcast/id1021340531?mt=2&ls=1","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/7oKXOpbHzbICFUcJNbZ5wF?si=jdnj9sTHSD2bj4hDMFLKEA","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdC8","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/quanta-magazine-2/quanta-magazine-podcast","__typename":"Channel"},{"title":"The Joy of x","slug":"the-joy-of-x","description":"The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews some of the world’s leading scientists about their lives and work.","featured_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-520x293.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-1720x968.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1-768x432.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JoX_Spheres_1920x1080-1.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"square_image":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-520x520.jpg","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-160x160.jpg","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600-520x520.jpg","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/03/JofX_podcast_logo-NEW-600.jpg","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"},"subscribe_itunes_link":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joy-of-x/id1495067186","subscribe_spotify_link":"https://open.spotify.com/show/5HcCtKPH5gnOjRiMtTdC07?si=lFzCzat9QfuPU3hWuYibxQ","subscribe_android_link":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkucXVhbnRhbWFnYXppbmUub3JnL2ZlZWQvdGhlLWpveS1vZi14Lw","subscribe_stitcher_link":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-joy-of-x","__typename":"Channel"}],"editors":[{"name":"Bill Andrews - Senior CS Editor","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Ben Brubaker - Staff CS Writer","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Matt Carlstrom - Senior Engagement Editor","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Jordana Cepelewicz - Senior Math Writer","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Konstantin Kakaes - Senior Math Editor","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Thomas Lin - Editor in Chief","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Michael Moyer - Deputy Editor, Physics, Math, CS","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"John Rennie - Deputy Editor, Biology, Podcasts","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Yasemin Saplakoglu - Staff Biology Writer","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Samuel Velasco - Art Director","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Natalie Wolchover - Senior Physics Editor","__typename":"Editor"},{"name":"Charlie Wood - Staff Physics Writer","__typename":"Editor"}],"popularSearches":[{"term":"math","label":"Mathematics","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"physics","label":"Physics","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"black holes","label":"Black Holes","__typename":"PopularSearch"},{"term":"evolution","label":"Evolution","__typename":"PopularSearch"}],"searchTopics":[{"type":"Tag","label":"Podcasts","tag":{"name":"Quanta Podcast","slug":"quanta-podcast","term_id":"552","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Tag","label":"Columns","tag":{"name":"Quantized Columns","slug":"quantized","term_id":"551","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Series","label":"Series","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Interviews","tag":{"name":"Q&A","slug":"qa","term_id":"567","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Q&A","slug":"qa","term_id":"176","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Multimedia","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Multimedia","slug":"multimedia","term_id":"43","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Puzzles","tag":{"name":"puzzles","slug":"puzzles","term_id":"542","__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Puzzles","slug":"puzzles","term_id":"546","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"Category","label":"Blog Posts","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":"Abstractions blog","slug":"abstractions","term_id":"619","__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"news","label":"News Articles","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"},{"type":"videos","label":"Videos","tag":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"category":{"name":null,"slug":null,"term_id":null,"__typename":"Term"},"__typename":"SearchTopic"}],"searchSections":[{"name":"Mathematics","slug":"mathematics","term_id":"188","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Physics","slug":"physics","term_id":"189","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Biology","slug":"biology","term_id":"191","__typename":"Term"},{"name":"Computer Science","slug":"computer-science","term_id":"190","__typename":"Term"}],"searchAuthors":[{"id":"38171","name":"Adam Becker","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"28087","name":"Adam Mann","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"29794","name":"Alex Kontorovich","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39302","name":"Alexander Hellemans","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"56","name":"Alla Katsnelson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"47249","name":"Allison Parshall","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"29458","name":"Allison Whitten","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"73","name":"Amanda Gefter","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39164","name":"Ana Kova","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"59","name":"Andreas von Bubnoff","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8728","name":"Anil Ananthaswamy","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"11648","name":"Ann Finkbeiner","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42689","name":"Annie Melchor","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"95","name":"Ariel Bleicher","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15493","name":"Ashley Smart","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"450","name":"Ashley Yeager","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"36490","name":"Ben Brubaker","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16315","name":"Bill Andrews","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2752","name":"Bob Henderson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15492","name":"Brendan Z. Foster","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"68","name":"Brooke Borel","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"62","name":"Carl Zimmer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13684","name":"Caroline Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13691","name":"Caroline Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"50","name":"Carrie Arnold","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15142","name":"Chanda Prescod-Weinstein","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8084","name":"Charlie Wood","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"742","name":"Christie Wilcox","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"11543","name":"Claudia Dreifus","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"57","name":"Courtney Humphries","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7262","name":"Dalmeet Singh Chawla","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"70","name":"Dan Falk","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19918","name":"Dana Najjar","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13695","name":"Daniel Garisto","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32676","name":"Daniel S. Freed","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13724","name":"David H. Freedman","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26310","name":"David S. Richeson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"30207","name":"David Tse","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19266","name":"Devin Powell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13251","name":"Diana Kwon","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17000","name":"Elena Renken","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17149","name":"Elizabeth Landau","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5279","name":"Elizabeth Preston","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"58","name":"Elizabeth Svoboda","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32612","name":"Ellen Horne","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"27534","name":"Emily Buder","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"25173","name":"Emily Levesque","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"64","name":"Emily Singer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"47","name":"Erica Klarreich","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14784","name":"Erika K. Carlson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"98","name":"Esther Landhuis","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5830","name":"Eva Silverstein","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"6793","name":"Evelyn Lamb","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"75","name":"Ferris Jabr","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"52","name":"Frank Wilczek","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"69","name":"Gabriel Popkin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"77","name":"George Musser","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19092","name":"Grant Sanderson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20557","name":"Howard Lee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"66","name":"Ingrid Daubechies","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"46418","name":"Ingrid Wickelgren","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"85","name":"Ivan Amato","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37141","name":"Jake Buehler","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"44758","name":"James Dinneen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12170","name":"Janna Levin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32","name":"Jeanette Kazmierczak","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"51","name":"Jennifer Ouellette","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"44787","name":"Joanna Thompson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"72","name":"John Pavlus","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16475","name":"John Preskill","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"91","name":"John Rennie","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"10351","name":"Jonathan Lambert","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"31716","name":"Jonathan O'Callaghan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1241","name":"Jordana Cepelewicz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"8463","name":"Joshua Roebke","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"49","name":"Joshua Sokol","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"16815","name":"jye","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"67","name":"K.C. Cole","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37462","name":"Karmela Padavic-Callaghan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"87","name":"Kat McGowan","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"36139","name":"Katarina Zimmer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20556","name":"Katherine Harmon Courage","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"90","name":"Katia Moskvitch","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39551","name":"Katie McCormick","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"27374","name":"Kelsey Houston-Edwards","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"40","name":"Kevin Hartnett","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"45758","name":"Kristina Armitage","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38413","name":"Lakshmi Chandrasekaran","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12570","name":"Laura Poppick","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38699","name":"Leila Sloman","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23451","name":"Liam Drew","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"79","name":"Liz Kruesi","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38","name":"Lucy Reading-Ikkanda","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"47180","name":"Lyndie Chiou","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"60","name":"Maggie McKee","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2333","name":"Mallory Locklear","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3569","name":"Marcus Woo","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"414","name":"Mark Kim-Mulgrew","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20495","name":"Matt Carlstrom","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17147","name":"Matthew Hutson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"30953","name":"Max G. Levy","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"32437","name":"Max Kozlov","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"38705","name":"mcho","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"40613","name":"Melanie Mitchell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7186","name":"Melinda Wenner Moyer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14093","name":"Michael Harris","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"34","name":"Michael Kranz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23","name":"Michael Moyer","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"74","name":"Michael Nielsen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19093","name":"Michele Bannister","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1472","name":"Moira Chas","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"6476","name":"Monique Brouillette","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42264","name":"Mordechai Rorvig","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"10","name":"Natalie Wolchover","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37605","name":"Nick Thieme","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"43298","name":"Nicole Yunger Halpern","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"37428","name":"Nima Arkani-Hamed","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"19962","name":"Nola Taylor Redd","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24","name":"Olena Shmahalo","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1816","name":"Patrick Honner","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"46889","name":"Paul Chaikin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"84","name":"Peter Byrne","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"55","name":"Philip Ball","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"31","name":"Pradeep Mutalik","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24011","name":"Puja Changoiwala","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"100","name":"Quanta Magazine","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2784","name":"R. Douglas Fields","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26114","name":"Rachel Crowell","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"9412","name":"Raleigh McElvery","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"820","name":"Ramin Skibba","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"1666","name":"Rebecca Boyle","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"20950","name":"Richard Masland","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"48","name":"Robbert Dijkgraaf","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"80","name":"Roberta Kwok","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15681","name":"Robin George Andrews","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"24577","name":"Rodrigo Pérez Ortega","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"78","name":"Sabine Hossenfelder","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"23845","name":"Samuel Velasco","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"83","name":"Sarah Lewin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"35441","name":"Scott Aaronson","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"76","name":"Sean B. Carroll","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15680","name":"Sean Carroll","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"7239","name":"Shannon Hall","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"44197","name":"Sheon Han","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"65","name":"Siobhan Roberts","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"5944","name":"Sophia Chen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"61","name":"Steph Yin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"63","name":"Stephanie Bucklin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"26311","name":"Stephanie DeMarco","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"71","name":"Stephen Ornes","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17148","name":"Steve Nadis","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"13356","name":"Steven Strogatz","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"17150","name":"Susan D'Agostino","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"39768","name":"Tamar Lichter Blanks","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"2960","name":"Tara C. Smith","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"14785","name":"Thomas Lewton","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3","name":"Thomas Lin","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"54","name":"Tim Vernimmen","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"88","name":"Tom Siegfried","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"12964","name":"Vanessa Schipani","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"53","name":"Veronique Greenwood","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"86","name":"Virginia Hughes","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"3244","name":"Viviane Callier","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"89","name":"Wynne Parry","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"15913","name":"XiaoZhi Lim","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"42263","name":"Yasemin Saplakoglu","__typename":"AuthorList"},{"id":"45757","name":"Zack Savitsky","__typename":"AuthorList"}],"adBehavior":"everywhere","adUrl":"https://www.simonsfoundation.org/","adImageHome":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/11/SF_HP_520x684_A.png","adImageArticle":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/11/SF_article_320%E2%80%8A%C3%97%E2%80%8A550_A.png","adImageTablet":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/11/SF_newslettertablet_1780x500_A.png","adImageMobile":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/11/SF_HP_520x684_A.png","trackingScripts":"rnrnrnrnrnrnrnrn"},"theme":{"page":{"accent":"#ff8600","text":"#1a1a1a","background":"white"},"header":{"type":"default","gradient":{"color":"white"},"solid":{"primary":"#1a1a1a","secondary":"#999999","hover":"#ff8600"},"transparent":{"primary":"white","secondary":"white","hover":"#ff8600"}}},"redirect":null,"fallbackImage":{"alt":"","caption":"","url":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","width":1200,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-520x260.gif","square_small":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-160x160.gif","square_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-520x520.gif","medium":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","medium_large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default-768x384.gif","large":"https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2017/04/default.gif","__typename":"ImageSizes"},"__typename":"Image"}},"modals":{"loginModal":false,"signUpModal":false,"forgotPasswordModal":false,"resetPasswordModal":false,"lightboxModal":false,"callback":null,"props":null},"podcast":{"id":null,"playing":false,"duration":0,"currentTime":0},"user":{"loggedIn":false,"savedArticleIDs":[],"userEmail":"","editor":false},"comments":{"open":false},"cookies":{"acceptedCookie":false}},
env: {
APP_URL: 'https://www.quantamagazine.org',
NODE_ENV: 'production',
WP_URL: 'https://api.quantamagazine.org',
HAS_GOOGLE_ID: true,
HAS_FACEBOOK_ID: true,
},
}
Read original article here