This Week in Evolution

Nels and Vincent explain a study showing that expansion of the genetic code in plants allows control of bacterial activity.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Expanding plant genetic vocabulary for defense (Nat Biotech)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Gaia with 1,000 faces Vincent – A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max S. Bennett

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Nels and Vincent explain a study showing unique site-specific and shared habitat-level adaptation in a classic system of repeated evolution, stickleback fish.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Shared and site-specific adaptation in stickleback fish (PNAS)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Wynton Marsalis on Playing When Nobody Is Listening Vincent – With US measles deaths on the rise, local officials are stepping in where RFK Jr won't

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Nels and Vincent discuss the finding that balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• A transcription protein underlies daily sex alteration in avocado (PNAS)
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Nels – Hypothesis fund and Pretty Viruses Project on iNaturalist Vincent – Hot Tuna – Water Song | Live at 4 6th Street Rock Palace (1973)

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Nels and Vincent discuss a chemically defined synthetic cell capable of growth and replication.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Chemically defined synthetic cell (bioRxiv)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Jimothy the short spined racoon in Seattle Vincent – Nitrogen-fixing organelle in a marine alga

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Nels and Vincent discuss molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor (Science)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Plug-in solar Vincent – This Engine Will Reinvent Space Travel

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Science journalist Roxanne Khamsi joins Nels and Vincent discuss her first book, Beyond Inheritance, which explores how DNA continuously mutates throughout our lives, challenging the idea that our genetic destiny is fixed at birth.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Roxanne Khamsi

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• Beyond Inheritance (Amazon)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]

Nels and Vincent discuss the development of a comprehensive transcriptomic atlas of early embryogenesis from 61 animal species to understand the control of gene expression transitions from maternally deposited products to newly transcribed zygotic RNA.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Evolutionary landscapes of zygotic genome activation across animals (bioRxiv)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Biologists Confirm Not Much Evolution Happened Today Vincent – How Trains Take Electricity from Wires Without Breaking Contact

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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)
• Timestamps by Jolene

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)
• Timestamps by Jolene

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

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]