James O’Dwyer has co-authored a new paper that suggests high-level ideas in ecology like neutral theory may be like the ideal gas law, an equation from physics that describes the general properties of gases very well. To make predictions about atypical systems, such as those at low temperatures or high pressures, scientists use another set of more-specific laws. Developing adaptations to neutral theory may be necessary in the same way. Read the full article at The Atlantic.