Fighting cancer with evolution: The Tasmanian devil
A genetic study of Tasmanian devils has uncovered signs that the animals are rapidly evolving to defend themselves against an infectious face cancer.
One of just three known transmissible cancers, this tumour has wiped out 80% of wild devils in the past 20 years.
Researchers looked at samples from 294 animals, in three different areas, before and after the disease arrived.
Two small sections of the devil genome appear to be changing very fast - and contain possible cancer-fighting genes.
The team, made up of US, UK and Australian scientists, described their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
