Viruses Show Promise for Creating Drugs By Doing What They Do Best: Evolving

What's the News: Test-tube evolution just went viral: a new study shows how to use viruses' knack for natural selection to create tailored proteins. Researchers at Harvard say their new technique is a hundred times faster than the usual methods, churning through 200 generations of proteins in 8 days, and, crucially, requires no attention from researchers after it’s set up: a crock pot for evolution. Though a godsend primarily for researchers, in the future it could accelerate the growth of customized proteins for new drugs.