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This Week in Evolution

This Week in Evolution is a podcast on the biology behind what makes us tick.
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Now displaying: Category: science
Nov 17, 2018

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.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: David Quammen

Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google PodcastsRSSemail

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Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Oct 24, 2018

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: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Mia Levine

Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google PodcastsRSSemail

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Science Picks

Nels - Cinema Science podcast
Vincent - Mastodon bones unearthed (Instagram, Grand Rapids News)

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Sep 21, 2018

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: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels - New snailfish and Cloned crayfish
Vincent - A PhD Lab Coat Ceremony

Listener Picks

Steve - Diversity in simple blobs
Justin - On Growth and Forms by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Aug 16, 2018

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.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Hey farmer farmer put away the chlor-pyri-fus
I don’t care about spots on my apples
Leave me the manatee and walruses

Science Picks

Nels - New dinosaur discovered in Utah
Vincent -The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Apr 21, 2018

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels - Craypot stinkhorn mushroom (Colus pusilus)
Vincent -Doubts raised over plan to release herpesvirus to wipe out carp

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Jan 13, 2018

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.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels - Undergrad podcasters from Stonehill College
Vincent - Viruses at Target

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Dec 7, 2017

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Vinny Lynch

 

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Science Picks

Nels - Animalism
Vincent - Voyager I fires up thrusters after 37 years
Vinny - Rollin' Wild

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nov 22, 2017

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.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels - Video of nematophagous fungi
Vincent - How should novelty be valued in science?
JohnEvo-Devo (Despacito Biology Parody)
MelanieWhat's in John's Freezer

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Oct 26, 2017

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Marco Vignuzzi

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This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. Get $30 off your first order and free shipping by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Nels - Global Tagging of Pelagic Predators
Vincent - Why has the EPA shifted on toxic chemicals?
Marco - Labs of Siobain Duffy, Seema Lackdawala, Chris Brook

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Sep 20, 2017

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Nels - Saving Hellbender Salamanders
Vincent - The Living River

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Aug 30, 2017

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Maitreya Dunham

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Nels - Floating Fire Ant Colonies in Houston and Help for Houston Researchers
Vincent - Help People Affected by Harvey and How To Help Harvey Victims

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Jul 13, 2017

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.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Rich - Sniffing out significant “Pee values”
Nels - 
Cuttlefish mimicking a hermit crab (evolutionary context)
Vincent - Our first bioRxiv submission!

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Jun 20, 2017

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

 

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Science Picks

Nels - CRISPR 5 ways
Vincent - The Vital Question by Nick Lane

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

May 24, 2017

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: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Jonathan Weiner

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Science Picks

Nels - The Gap by Ira Glass
Vincent - EPA removes climate science site

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Apr 10, 2017

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Ni-Chen 'Sylvia' Chang, Waring 'Buck' Trible, and Sean K. McKenzie

Buck and Sean join Vincent in New York, while Sylvia is with Nels in Salt Lake City to discuss the first mutant ant ever made: disruption of orco, a gene required for function of odorant receptors, show defects in social behavior and fitness.

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Nels - Urban Nature and What Makes a City Ant?
Vincent - Animations from WEHI

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Feb 25, 2017

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels and Vincent reveal how introns - the parts of pre-mRNAs that are removed by splicing - were generated by DNA transposons in two different picoeukaryotes.

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free with your first purchase – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Nels - Did eukaryotes invent anything? (TWiM 144)
Vincent - Virology course online

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Jan 22, 2017

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Hopi Hoekstra

Nels and Vincent speak with Hopi Hoekstra about her career and the work of her laboratory on developmental mechanisms of stripe patterns in rodents. 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Blue Apron is the #1 fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. See what’s on the menu this week and get your first 3 meals free – WITH FREE SHIPPING – by going to blueapron.com/twie.

Science Picks

Hopi -Diversify EEBAnne's List
Nels - 
Celebration for Harry Noller
Vincent - Biological Warfare, Virus Style (journal article)

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Dec 22, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guests: Jessica BrownMichael KayWayne PottsJune Round, and Janis Weis

From the Microbial Pathogenesis Retreat of the University of Utah School of Medicine, held at the Utah Museum of Natural History, Nels and Vincent speak with faculty members about their work on bacteria, fungi, viruses, and mirror-image biochemistry.

Watch video of this episode at YouTube

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.

Science Picks

Nels - An Open Letter to My Class
Vincent - The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Nov 16, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Corrie Moreau

Corrie joins Nels and Vincent to talk about her comparative analysis of the genomes of mutualist ants that nest in plants, and non-symbiotic species.

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Links for this episode

This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.

Science Picks

Nels - Mind-melting animated gifs
Vincent - Parasites Without Borders
Corrie - Brain Scoop with Emily Graslie

Listener Pick

Chris - Shark weapons

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Oct 19, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Josh Drew

Josh joins Nels and Vincent to talk about his research on the evolution and conservation of aquatic tropical  biodiversity, and the historical ecology of 19th century American Whalers.

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Links for this episode

This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.

This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more.

Science Picks

Nels - Dr. Mary-Claire King at World Science Festival
Vincent - Contagious Thinking
Josh - Diversify EEB

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Sep 27, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Nicole King

Nicole joins Nels and Vincent to discuss the finding of her laboratory that multicellular development of choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, is regulated by bacterial lipids.

 

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Links for this episode

This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and non­fiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.

This episode is also sponsored by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more.

Science Picks

Nels - I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong (Fresh Air interview)
Vincent - Viral Infections of Leisure by David Schlossberg

Listener Pick

Justin - Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Sean B. Carroll

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Aug 13, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels and Vincent review experiments showing that the replacement of a pale moth with a black one during the industrial revolution was caused by a transposable element.

 

Links for this episode

Science Picks

Nels - Is Pokémon Go good for science? (one, two, three)
Vincent - Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Jul 5, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Jim Bull

Nels and Vincent speak with Jim Bull about the results of genetic models which suggest that the evolution of inbreeding in response to lethal gene drive might make population control difficult to achieve.

 

Links for this episode

Science Picks

Nels - Fertilization with parasitic sperm
Vincent - Undark

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Jun 8, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Nels visits Vincent in the MicrobeTV studio in New York and talks about how key genes of the Homo sapiens innate immune response were acquired from Neanderthals.

 

Links for this episode

Science Picks

Nels - DNA Clues to our Inner Neanderthal
Vincent - Blockhead

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

Become a patron of TWiEVO

Apr 23, 2016

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Mike Shapiro

Mike joins Nels and Vincent to talk about his work on what controls whether pigeons have scaly or feathered feet, and reveals that the hindlimbs of domestic birds with feathery feet are more like wings at the molecular level. 

 

Links for this episode

Science Picks

Mike - Pigeon exhibit, Natural History Museum of UtahPigeonetics (App store); Darwin's Pigeons
Nels - 
National Parasite Collection
Vincent - The Story Collider

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to twievo@microbe.tv

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