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Our results indicate that the strength of sexual selection may be self-limiting, and they highlight the potential for contingency to lead to differences in life outcomes, even in the absence of any underlying differences in ability (“merit”).</jats:p>","journal":"Science","year":2025,"id":611410,"datarank":0.40620753016533157,"base_score":2.70805020110221,"endowment":2.70805020110221,"self_citation_contribution":0.40620753016533157,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.40620753016533157,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":14,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1425257,"name":"Daniel Chang Kuo","orcid":"0009-0004-5061-3523","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1573516,"name":"Xinmiao Meng","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1573517,"name":"Tess M. 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By comparing the developmental trajectories of functionally genetically identical free-living mice who either experienced high levels of resource competition (males) or did not (females), we show that competition magnifies early contingency. Male resource competition results in a feedback loop that magnifies the importance of early contingency and pushes individuals onto divergent, self-reinforcing life trajectories, while the same process appears absent in females. Our results indicate that the strength of sexual selection may be self-limiting, and they highlight the potential for contingency to lead to differences in life outcomes, even in the absence of any underlying differences in ability (“merit”).</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":2.70805020110221,"endowment":2.70805020110221,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"39745972","pmcid":"PMC12978263","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4406025451","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"NIGMS NIH HHS","grant_id":"R35 GM138284","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDDK NIH HHS","grant_id":"R01 DK139214","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":23.9634,"citation_percentile":0.99581219,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":8},{"year":2026,"count":6}],"oa_status":"green","license":null,"oa_locations":[{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12978263/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12978263/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.adq0579","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq0579","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39745972","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Animal Behavior and Reproduction","Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior","Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior"],"mesh_terms":["Sexual Selection","Animals","Competitive Behavior","Female","Male","Mice, Inbred C57BL","Social Behavior","Mice"],"keywords":["Contingency","Luck","Competition (biology)","Limiting","Resource (disambiguation)","Psychology","Biology","Developmental psychology","Social psychology","Ecology","Computer science"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-01T19:19:40.720484Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}