Biology tool uncloaks folk-tale evolution

摘要

Phylogenetic analysis, a method that biologists use to infer evolutionary relationships between species, can be used to trace the ancestry of folk tales such as Little Red Riding Hood. Anthropologists have struggled to find ways to group similar tales from different cultures. Jamshid Tehrani at Durham University, UK, approached the problem by creating an evolutionary 'tree' similar to those used to reveal common ancestors among biological species.