Podcasts by This Week in Evolution

This Week in Evolution

This Week in Evolution is a podcast on the biology of what makes us tick. Hosts Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello take you through the new evolution that has been revolutionized by the field of genomics and molecular biology.

Further podcasts by Vincent Racaniello

Podcast on the topic Naturwissenschaften

All episodes

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 95: Watering the viruses until they bloom from 2023-11-14T23:53

Nels and Vincent discuss how the rewetting of seasonally dried soils, a critical event in Mediterranean grasslands that reactivates dormant soil microorganisms, leading to pulses of ca...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 94: A bacteria, a phage, and a selfish element walk into a cryptomonad from 2023-09-29T17:44

Nels and Vincent take apart an amazing symbiosis consisting of two bacteria, one bacteriophage, and seven different genomes all within a single-celled alga.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 93: Faster than a speeding bacteria from 2023-08-25T01:24

Nels and Vincent review a collision of synthetic biology and experimental evolution, using a minimal synthetic bacterial cell with only 473 genes, the smallest genome of any known organism that ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 92: There's algae in the jar from 2023-07-21T17:47

Nels and Vincent explain a study of how interspecies competition between two algae influences evolution of metabolism and size.

Hosts: Nels Elde and...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 91: Meet your very distant cousins from 2023-07-17T21:10

Nels and Vincent discuss new findings using phylogenetic approaches about how complex eukaryotic cells emerged from prokaryotic ancestors, which firmly place eukaryotes as a clade nested within ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 90: The mystery of the mouse mummies from 2023-05-12T17:29

Nels and Vincent provide insights into the mystery of mouse mummies on the summits of >6000 m Andean volcanoes, including whether they were living there and if so why?

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 89: On the outer rim of tumor evolution from 2023-04-25T01:36

Nels and Vincent discuss the observation that cells on a boundary of a solid tumor have higher growth rates compared to those in the center and how to model this difference using genome sequenci...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 88: Dog days of evolution in the shadows of Chernobyl from 2023-03-26T13:38

Nels and Vincent review a study of the dogs of Chernobyl which reveals that genetically distinct populations with different amounts of western breed contributions to their genomes, the first ste...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 87: Nathan Clark's revolutionary hair care advice from 2023-02-21T22:39

Nathan joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his approach to understanding how species adopt novel traits to overcome challenges, and its application to identifying coding and noncoding sequence cha...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 86: Pulling out the stops in genetic code evolution from 2023-02-05T13:13

Nels and Vincent discuss how evolution of changes in stop codon assignment might occur, and a novel mechanism for altering the meaning of translation stop codons discovered in a trypanosomatid w...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 85: Teaching old dogs new genetic tricks from 2022-12-21T12:19

Nels and Vincent discuss the use of genome sequence data for over 4,000 domestic, semi-feral, and wild canids to understand the genetic drivers of canine behavior.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 84: Decoding our defenses to the Black Death from 2022-11-08T21:14

Nels and Vincent review the use of ancient DNA to identify loci that may have been under selection during the Black Death by studying populations before, during, and after the pandemic.

H...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 83: Evolution spreads its wings (and then loses them) from 2022-10-24T16:00

Florian Maderspacher from Current Biology joins Nels and Vincent to discuss a special issue of the journal on birds.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 82: A genetic hack for the human brain from 2022-09-25T20:31:05

Nels and Vincent consider evidence that a single amino acid change in the TKTL1 gene might have led to greater neurogenesis in the frontal cortex of modern humans compared with Neanderthals.

...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 81: Evolution's new and improved slime molds from 2022-08-24T20:43:54

Nels and Vincent discuss how duplication of a gene encoding a transcription factor led to evolution of a novel cell type in the slime mold Dictyostelium.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 80: Viruses of a feather bottleneck together from 2022-08-01T18:36:06

Louise Moncla joins Nels and Vincent to review her use of genomics to understand emergence, evolution, and transmission of respiratory viruses including influenza virus H5N1, mumps virus, and SA...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 79: When the immune system is away, SARS-CoV-2 will play from 2022-07-02T14:47:37

Nels and Vincent discuss an analysis of the drivers of evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during chronic infections, indicating that a tradeoff exists between antibody evasion and fitness.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 78: The virus daily double from 2022-05-26T16:21:24

Nels and Vincent provide an update on cases of monkeypox, and summarize a biochemical view of three changes in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that may balance positive and negative selection.

...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 77: The mutations of our lives from 2022-04-26T18:01:56

Alex joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his work which demonstrates that somatic mutation rates scale with lifespan in mammals.

Hosts: Nels Elde and ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 76: One-step symbiosis from 2022-03-22T17:36:39

Nels and Vincent describe how a single amino acid change can allow E. coli to replace the essential gut symbiont of the stinkbug Plautia stali.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 75: Even the BANAL coronaviruses are interesting from 2022-02-24T20:26:44

Nels and Vincent review isolation of SARS-CoV-2-like viruses from bats in Laos that can replicate in human cells.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 74: On racism, not race with Joe Graves from 2022-02-03T18:40:39

Joe Graves joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his career in evolutionary biology and his recent book that answers questions about race and racism.

Hosts: Nels E...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 73: With a little help from your hosts from 2021-12-28T19:05:54

Nels and Vincent review three aspects of SARS-CoV-2: phylogenetics of Omicron, a two-step fitness selection for variants, and putative RNA insertions from host genomes.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 72: Echoes of evolution both shallow and deep from 2021-10-26T15:42:07

Nels and Vincent discuss evolutionary evidence for an epidemic of coronavirus infection over 20,000 years ago in East Asia, and reconstruction of the membrane differences between bacteria and Ar...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 71: Faster than a speeding coronavirus from 2021-09-27T01:34:14

Nels and Vincent explain a method to calculate the mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2, and the role of a single amino acid change in spike in enhancing fitness of the delta variant and enabling it to o...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 70: On Life's Edge with Carl Zimmer from 2021-08-03T04:00

Carl Zimmer joins Nels to talk about science writing, science communication, viruses, and his new book, On Life’s Edge.

Host: Nels Elde

Guest...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 69: Swimming in SARS-CoV-2 sequences from 2021-06-30T21:37:55

Nels and Vincent discuss the identification of novel bat coronaviruses that shed light on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, dating the first cases of COVID-19 to mid-November 2019, and recovery of de...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 68: Stepping through time with SARS-CoV-2 from 2021-05-29T15:01:46

Nels and Vincent explain a new method for calculating the most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2, which concludes that the ancestral virus was circulating in October/November 2019, before its...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiVEO 67: Corona chameleon from 2021-04-22T15:31:17

Nels and Vincent review evidence for recombinant SARS-CoV-2 genomes arising in the B.1.1.7 lineage within the United Kingdom.

Hosts: Nels Elde and <...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 66: SARS-2-mouse from 2021-03-25T16:28:29

Nels and Vincent review a preprint demonstrating that changes in the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 variants B1.351 and P.1 allow the viruses to reproduce in mouse cells in culture and in laboratory ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 65: Variants in the mist from 2021-02-25T21:37:25

Nels and Vincent review evidence that a single amino acid change in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has driven adaptation to humans, followed by an update on the status of variants of concern.

...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 64: Seeing the lineages for the variants from 2021-01-22T22:53:38

Nels and Vincent consider evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and update the situation on novel virus variants of concern with potentially altered fitness and reactivity with antibodie...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 63: Year of the coronavirus from 2020-12-31T16:42:41

Nels and Vincent wrap up 2020 with a discussion of novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa, how to interpret the rapidly...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 62: Army ants with Daniel Kronauer from 2020-12-07T19:00:24

Daniel joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his new book on army ants, the wickedest insects ever to roam the planet, and his research on them and clonal raider ants.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 61: Shot and chaser of SARS-CoV-2 evolution from 2020-10-31T17:18:17

Nels and Vincent discuss an opinion piece on 12 evolutionary insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic is shaping human nature, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in an immunosuppressed patient...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 60: Five years of TWiEVO on the future of our past from 2020-09-25T01:05:58

On the fifth anniversary of TWiEVO, Nels and Vincent invite 12 evolutionary biologists to describe exciting future directions for the field and their laboratory in the next five years.

Ho...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 59: The hypothesis giving tree from 2020-08-28T05:00

Nels and Vincent answer listener questions and discuss a newly discovered virus of amoeba with a nearly complete ORFan genome: none of the proteins encoded in the viral genome look like any othe...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 58: Not all coronaviruses ACE2 the test from 2020-08-13T18:53:17

Simon and Heather join TWiEVO to discuss their analysis of the evolutionary history of ACE2 usage by coronaviruses in the Sarbecovirus genus.

Hosts: Nel...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 57: SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding evolution blooms from 2020-06-24T21:24

Jessie, Allie and Tyler join Nels and Vincent to describe their work on deep mutational scanning of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain.

Hosts: Nels ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 56: Revising the drafts of coronavirus evolution from 2020-05-20T19:23:03

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, including understanding recurrent mutations in the viral genome, and the potential for re-emergence of the virus from an anima...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 55: Coronavirus evolution from soup to nuts from 2020-05-06T15:11:02

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 evolution, with a report that the coronavirus proofreading enzyme stimulates RNA recombination, and debunking the conclusion that a chang...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 54: Rough drafts of SARS-CoV-2 science from 2020-04-25T13:17:26

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 from an evolutionary viewpoint, including function of the furin cleavage site, whether Vervet cells are an informative system, another ba...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 53: Virus evolution by land and by sea and by CoV, part II from 2020-04-04T05:00

Nels and Vincent continue their discussion of SARS-CoV-2 from an evolutionary viewpoint, focusing on what the genome sequences tell us about the virus.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 52: Virus evolution by land and by sea and by CoV from 2020-02-26T13:20:21

Nels and Vincent examine SARS-CoV-2 from an evolutionary viewpoint, examining what the spike glycoprotein sequence informs us about the origin of the virus.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 51: The starting point paradox from 2020-01-22T16:10:17

Nels and Vincent dive deep into evolution and consider how new proteins emerged billions of years ago, when there were no other proteins to serve as starting material.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 50: I'm dreaming of a Y chromosome from 2019-12-24T02:39:16

Nels and Vincent discuss signatures of sex chromosome evolution revealed by assembly of a young vertebrate Y chromosome from 3-spined stickleback fish.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 49: A giant podcast on giant viruses from 2019-11-29T16:57:07

Rich joins Nels and Vincent for a debriefing on the 4th Ringberg Symposium on Giant Virus Biology in Tegernsee, Germany.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 48: Flipping out with choanos on caffeine from 2019-10-31T01:03:51

Nels and Vincent reveal a new choanoflagellate that forms multicellular cup shaped colonies that respond to light to alternate between feeding and swimming behavior.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 47: On the origin of beer species from 2019-09-19T21:51:30

Nels and Vincent trace the origins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains used to make beer, and find that ales and lagers are made with yeasts that were derived from those used to make Eu...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 46: Can an old tumor teach us new tricks? from 2019-08-31T18:58:59

Nels and Vincent analyze the genomes of canine transmissible tumors to provide insight into the worldwide spread of the disease from its origin in a single dog 4000-8500 years ago, and its diver...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 45: Microbial secrets of mouse-ear cress from 2019-07-29T18:00

At ASM Microbe in San Francisco, Nels and Vincent meet up with Talia Karasov who reveals that in contrast to agriculture, wild plants are colonized by multiple lineages of pathogenic bacteria. Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 44: The enemy of my enemy is my phage from 2019-06-27T16:18:52

At ASM Microbe in San Francisco, Nels and Vincent meet up with Paul Turner to talk about evolutionary considerations in using bacteriophages to treat infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteri...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 43: Social evolution with a side of shrimp from 2019-05-25T15:05:33

Dustin Rubinstein joins Nels and Vincent to discuss coevolution of genome architecture and social behavior, and studying social transitions in sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp.

Hosts:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 42: Who's who in your genome from 2019-04-24T18:41:36

Nels and Vincent review the contribution of multiple Denisovan lineages to the modern Papuan genome.

Hosts: Ne...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 41: Where do baby genes come from? from 2019-03-20T14:56:30

Nels and Vincent explore the evolution of new protein-coding genes de novo from nocoding DNA sequences, using the antifreeze protein of northern codfish as a model.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 40: Eau de bee from 2019-02-15T03:07:06

Nels and Vincent move back to reproductive isolation - this time, pre-zygotic, in the charismatic orchid bee where the males make chemically distinct perfumes to attract mates of the same specie...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 39: In a Legionella of their own from 2019-01-26T14:18:19

Nels and Vincent look at the intracellular bacteria Legionella from an evolutionary perspective: the role of gene acquisition and reshuffling from plants, animals, fungi, and archaea in...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 38: Evolving to evolve from 2018-12-24T15:26:36

Nels and Vincent reveal a highly conserved protein that acts as an evolvability factor, increasing mutation and the ability of bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 37: A tangled tree on the Quammens from 2018-11-17T19:14:26

David Quammen joins Nels and Vincent to talk about his new book, A Tangled Tree, including evolutionary trees, Carl Woese, Lynn Margulis, horizontal gene transfer, and much more.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 36: All's not quiet on the telomeric front from 2018-10-24T16:00:42

Mia joins Nels and Vincent to unravel their finding that the transposons that maintain the ends of chromosomes in Drosophilahave evolved in conflict with the genome.

Hosts:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 35: Strawberry sex chromosomes forever from 2018-09-21T17:26:03

Nels and Vincent reveal that female-specific DNA associated with sex in strawberries has repeatedly changed its genomic location, possibly linking new genes with sex. 

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 34: You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s PON from 2018-08-16T14:05:29

Nels and Vincent discuss how the loss of an enzyme in marine mammals millions of years ago now makes them at risk for neurotoxicity caused by human-made organophosphorous pesticides.

Host...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 33: Fly by virus from 2018-07-25T00:28:48

Nels and Vincent are astounded by the finding of an insect-derived virus in a fungus that manipulates the behavior of flies.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 32: Never not neutral from 2018-06-19T22:13:37

Matt joins Nels and Vincent to discuss the neutral theory of evolution and its rejection in light of genome-scale data.

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 31: Virus archaeology, or when the human genome is the junk from 2018-05-19T22:18:33

Nels and Vincent present ancient hepatitis B virus genome sequences from Bronze Age to Medieval period human remains.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 30: Driving Miss Maize-y from 2018-04-21T12:14:57

Nels and Vincent reveal how a motor protein in corn causes preferential transmission of chromosomes to egg cells, leading to non-Mendelian inheritance.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 29: Evolution on the wing from 2018-03-21T16:03:35

Nels and Vincent discuss the evolution of blood feeding to nonbiting in a mosquito, and evolution of bacterial virulence in the house finch caused by incomplete host immunity.

Hosts:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 28: Genetics of skin pigmentation in Africa from 2018-02-28T03:15:25

Sarah Tishkoff joins Nels and Vincent to explain work from her laboratory on the genetic basis of skin pigmentation in Africans.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 27: Coldevo from 2018-01-13T15:32:32

Taking a cue from the recent frigid weather, Nels and Vincent explore how modifications of a neuronal cold-sensing channel regulate diminished cold sensitivity in hibernating mammals.

Hos...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 26: My Scientist Vinny from 2017-12-07T15:23:19

Vinny Lynch joins Nels and Vincent to discuss how a zombie gene in elephants protects these large, long lived animals from cancer.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 25: Pigeons show the way from 2017-11-22T23:31:18

Nels and Vincent discuss a genomic analysis of the passenger pigeon, which shows that species with large and stable populations may be at risk of extinction after a sudden environmental change.<...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 24: Good viruses visiting bad neighborhoods from 2017-10-26T17:14:23

Marco Vignuzzi joins Nels and Vincent to discuss recent work from his laboratory on redirecting RNA virus evolution in sequence space.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 23: The Alus are going to be alright from 2017-09-20T20:25:41

Nels and Vincent reveal how the protein DHX9 suppresses RNA processing defects caused by invasion of the Alu retroelement into the human genome.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 22: E pluribus cerevisiae from 2017-08-30T21:37:27

Maitreya Dunham joins Nels and Vincent to explain how her laboratory uses experimental evolution to study yeast flocculation, the community-building cell aggregation trait.

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 21: A virus with a green thumb from 2017-07-13T01:35:24

Rich Condit joins Nels and Vincent to explain how a vaccinia virus protein customizes ribosomes to favor the translation of viral mRNAs with a stretch of A residues in the 5'-untranslated region...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 20: In the company of cnidarians from 2017-06-20T00:34:08

Nels and Vincent explore the role of TSR proteins during colonization of cnidarians by dinoflagellates.

Hosts: Nels Elde Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 19: The beauty of the story from 2017-05-24T13:18:30

Jonathan Weiner, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Beak of the Finch, joins Nels and Vincent to talk about his career and his writing. 

Hosts: Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 18: Raiders of the lost orco from 2017-04-10T18:00:19

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Ni-C...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 17: The curious cases of clam cancers from 2017-03-13T17:58:22

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 16: Breaking in the making of genes from 2017-02-25T13:40:50

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels and Vin...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 15: From cockroaches to grizzly bears from 2017-01-22T19:07:56

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 14: TWi-light on the Wasatch Front from 2016-12-22T02:56:02

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guests:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 13: This week in ants from 2016-11-16T02:22:55

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 12: Take a left at the goats from 2016-10-19T11:30

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 10: Spicing up peppered moths with a selfish gene from 2016-08-13T14:17:15

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels and Vin...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 9: How to crash your gene drive from 2016-07-05T12:30

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest:  Listen

This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 8: Everyone's a little bit Neanderthal from 2016-06-08T15:35:04

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels visits ...

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This Week in Evolution
TWiEVO 6: Butterflies are free to shuffle from 2016-03-19T02:16:38

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels and Vincen...

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