Nels and Vincent discuss the discovery of a short RNA with the ability to catalyze its own synthesis.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• A small polymerase ribozyme (Science)
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Science Picks

Nels – The University of Illinois Just Released a Popcorn So Good It Doesn’t Need Butter
Vincent – Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp

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Nels and Vincent explain how stinkbug females smear fungus on their eggs to protect them from wasp parasitism.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs (Science)
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Science Picks

Nels – Meet the Olympic superstar who trains under the radar in Utah
Vincent – The Discovery That Changed the Universe

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Nels and Vincent explain how selfishness evolved multiple times from an essential tRNA synthetase gene in a nematode.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Evolution of selfishness from a tRNA synthetase gene (Nat Ecol Evol)
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Science Picks

Nels - From Where Does it STEM?
Vincent - An Act of Cosmic Sabotage

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Nels and Vincent examines the use of AI and genome language models to design novel derivatives of bacteriophage phiX174.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• AI design of bacteriophage phiX174 derivatives (bioRxiv)
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Science Picks

Nels – NIH official resigns after flap over risks of seasonal flu virus study and The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) requests input from all interested parties on Federal policy updates that aim to accelerate the American scientific enterprise, enable groundbreaking discoveries, and ensure that scientific progress and technological innovation benefit all Americans.
Vincent – One Plus One Equals One: Symbiosis and the evolution of complex life by John Archibald

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Nels and Vincent explain research which shows that insertion of a retrovirus into the genome regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Retrovirus and swordfish scale color (bioRxiv)
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Science Picks

Nels – Some like it hot! A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes and Kara Marshall’s talk on history of science/science funding in the US, family connections to medical care, and her own lab’s work at Baylor College of Medicine
Vincent – NIH shake-up to grant decision-making draws concerns of political meddling

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Nels and Vincent discuss research which shows a shift from the rule that living organisms produce same-species offspring: an ant that produces individuals from two distinct species.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• One mother for two species (Nature)
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Science Picks

Nels – Dr. Bill Rom, NYU canoes every lake connected by a portage trail in the Boundary Waters in Minnesota
Vincent – Google just made photography obsolete

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Nels and Vincent discuss research on hidden evolutionary constraints that dictate the retention of coronavirus accessory gene, which was flagged by NIH as potentially dangerous gain-of-function research.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Hidden evolutionary constraints and retention of coronavirus accessory genes (Curr Biol)
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Science Picks

Nels – NIH suspends dozens of pathogen studies over ‘gain-of-function’ concerns and Mentorship and acts of kindness
Vincent – Kennedy’s case against mRNA vaccines collapses under his own evidence

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Nels and Vincent review research on how neuropeptides influence the behavior of leafcutter ants, and regulate the different caste behaviors such as defenders, leaf foragers, brood care, and fungus farming.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – My academic job offer was rescinded. I’ll keep going—but U.S. researchers are running out of road
Vincent – There’s a new acid in our rain — should we be worried?

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Nels and Vincent discuss an ultra reduced archaeal genome, the closest cellular entity to date that approaches a viral strategy of existence.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – The Bethesda Declaration
Vincent – US to Drop Guidance to Limit Alcohol to One or Two Drinks Per Day, Sources Say

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Nels and Vincent review the properties of Mendel’s pea genes through the lens of modern genetic analysis.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Insights into Mendel’s pea genes (Nature)
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Science Picks

Nels – Evolution related game
Vincent – Should Unvaccinated Patients Get Organ Transplants? Ethicist Weighs In

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Nels and Vincent explain the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Evolution and ancestry of dire wolf (bioRxiv)
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Science Picks

Nels – Navigating to the forefront of innovation: A celebration of immigrant scientists
Vincent – Exclusive: a Nature analysis signals the beginnings of a US science brain drain

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Nels and Vincent explain the ancient evolutionary origin of sex in cephalopods.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Evolution of sex in cephalopods (Current Biol)
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Science Picks

Nels – Speaking into a microphone? Your audio quality can impact the way people view you
Vincent – Remedy Supported by Kennedy Leaves Some Measles Patients More Ill

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Nels and Vincent explain how template switching during DNA replication is a widespread source of adaptive gene amplification.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – Jeremy Berg on Bluesky – jeremymberg.bsky.social
Vincent – Dickson Despommier, 84

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Nels and Vincent reveal that worker ants amputate their colleagues injured leg to prevent infections.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Wound-dependent leg amputation in ants (Curr Biol)
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Science Picks

Nels – The Science Bridge
Vincent – US withdraws from WHO

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Nels and Vincent discuss the molecular and genetic origins of sex-linked orange coat color in cats.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – AI takes up science podcasting
Vincent – Humans evolved for distance running – but ancestor ‘Lucy’ didn’t go far or fast

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Nels and Vincent review the identification of a novel virus associated with the pathogen Plasmodium knowlsei and which is part part of a diverse and unclassified viral taxon.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – The peace of wild things, poem by Wendell Berry
Vincent – All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet LUCA

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Nels and Vincent discuss the origins of eukaryotes, with contributions from at least 3 bacteria (alphaproteobacteria) and a large contribution from DNA viruses with large genomes.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Complex symbiotic interactions during eukaryogenesis (bioRxiv)
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Science Picks

Nels – Pathoplexus.org
Vincent – Can science cure its addiction to plastic?

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Nels and Vincent explain how homology searches of anti-phage systems in eukaryotic genomes can be used to discover proteins of the human immune system.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Human antiviral effectors from antiphage systems (Cell Host Micro)
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Science Picks

Nels – Pathoplexus.org
Vincent – Can science cure its addiction to plastic?

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Nels and Vincent look at how plant prickles, sharp epidermal projections that provide defense from predators and other advantages, arose by convergent evolution, the emergence of analogous traits in distantly related species.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Convergent evolution of plant prickles (Science)
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Science Picks

Nels – Trees as a metaphor to understand relationships in biology
Vincent – Project 2025 vs. The Public’s Health

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Nels and Vincent discuss the genome sequence of an ancient wooly mammoth, which shows that the three-dimensional architecture of the DNA can persist after 50,000 years.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Three dimensional architecture of 50,000 year old wooly mammoth genome (Cell)
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Science Picks

Nels – Mysterious SARS-CoV-2 variants showing up in sewer samples
Vincent – ‘Cocaine sharks’ found in waters off Brazil

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Nels and Vincent explore a direct experimental test of Ohno’s Hypothesis, which states that gene duplication can help genes tolerate new mutations and thus facilitates the evolution of new phenotypes.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks

Nels – Experimental Evolution and the Nature of Biodiversity
Vincent – Is science’s dominant funding model broken?

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Nels and Vincent explain how deep genomics of macroalgae illuminate multiple paths to aquatic, photosynthetic multicellularity.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Paths to aquatic, photosynthetic multicellularity (Mol Plant)
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Science Picks

Nels – 12-sided Roman relic baffles archaeologists, spawns countless theories
Vincent – TWiEVO 11: Microbial accomplices in multicellularity and the follow up Synergistic Cues from Diverse Bacteria Enhance Multicellular Development in a Choanoflagellate

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Nels and Vincent review the genetic basis for tail-loss evolution in humans and apes.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Genetic basis of tail loss evolution in apes (Nature)
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Science Picks

Nels – Will Brie and Camembert Cheeses Go Extinct?
Vincent – A True Human Tail in a Neonate: Case report and literature review

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Nels and Vincent reveal how electric organ discharge from the electric eel facilitates the introduction of DNA into teleost larvae.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Electric eel discharge moves DNA into cells (Peer J)
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Science Picks

Nels – “The Jump” quilt by Cristina Arcenegui Bono
Vincent – T4 bacteriophage art object and Gwenbeads Etsy shop

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