While it is definitely too soon to consider this hypothesis even close to settled, it's not as far out as it might seem at first glance. Indeed, what we evoluti

While it is definitely too soon to consider this hypothesis even close to settled, it's not as far out as it might seem at first glance. Indeed, what we evolutionary biologists have always said is that the cost of sex is compensated for by robustness in the face of evolutionary pressure. All this group is saying, in essence, is that instead of that pressure coming in the form of infrequent external events (plagues, floods, asteroids, etc.), it is present for every generation in the form of dealing with mitochondria that don't quite fit any longer. An interesting idea, to be sure.