Polar bears are 'rewriting their DNA' to survive warming Arctic, study suggests

A new study from the University of East Anglia suggests that polar bears are undergoing rapid genetic changes, and scientists believe it's due to the impacts of climate change. “It’s kind of the first time that we believe we’ve seen a mammal system such as the polar bear, where temperature has been the lead cause, and environmental stress at increased temperature, is impacting their DNA, their genome in real time,” Alice Godden, the lead author of the study, told ABC News. Researchers say the discovery of these genetic changes offers a glimmer of hope for the bears' survival, as two-thirds of the world’s population could perish by 2050. “This unique group of polar bears is essentially rewriting parts of its own genome to survive,” Godden said in a press release. She calls the breakthrough