This Week in Evolution

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Genetic basis of tail loss evolution in apes (Nature)
• Timestamps by Jolene

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

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

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

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Electric eel discharge moves DNA into cells (Peer J)
• Timestamps by Jolene

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

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

Rich Condit joins Nels and Vincent at the Science Mill in Johnson City, Texas, where Director of STEM Education Jeehyun Park talks about the goals of the childrens' museum.

Hosts: Nels Elde, Vincent Racaniello, and Rich Condit

Guest: Jeehyun Park

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• The Science Mill
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Science Mill: More Than a Museum and Elde Lab Video Rich – The Moon May Get Its Own Time Zone (Claire Fahy, NYT 3/7/2023) Vincent – SXSW Session "From Adversary to Ally: Reimagining Viruses as Medicines"

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

Nels and Vincent discuss how behavioural individuality determines infection risk in clonal ant colonies.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Infection risk in clonal ant colonies (Nat Comm)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Fungi (lichens) in Space Vincent – Polar bear energetic and behavioral strategies on land with implications for surviving the ice-free period

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

Nels and Vincent review a study of the key processes required for the different stages of fungal carnivory by a nematode-trapping fungus.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Fungal carnivory by a nematode-trapping fungus (Plos Biol)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Nels – Openly available illustrations as tools to describe eukaryotic microbial diversity Vincent – Dana-Farber retractions: meet the blogger who spotted problems in dozens of cancer papers

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

Nels and Vincent discuss the origins of two modern day agriculturally important plants: a role for two different wild teosintes in making modern maize, and the origin and evolution of the triploid cultivated banana genome.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Two teosintes made modern maize (Science)
• Teosinte (Native Seeds)
• Evolution of triploid banana genome (Nature)

Nels – Why we need an academic career path that combines science and art – Nature Careers Podcast Vincent – Science's 2023 Breakthrough and Breakdown

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

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 carbon and nitrogen mineralization, and is accompanied by a bloom of viral diversity, followed by extensive viral community turnover.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiEVO

• Join the MicrobeTV Discord server
• Viral but not bacterial community successional patterns reflect extreme turnover shortly after rewetting dry soils

Nels - Bluesky Vincent - Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology

Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]

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: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiEVO

•Join the MicrobeTV Discord server •A single crowded cryptomonad cell (Curr Biol) •Letters read on TWiEVO 94

Nels – What happened at NIH during the last government shutdown Vincent – Geneticist J. Craig Venter: 'I consider retirement tantamount to death'

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

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 can be grown in lab culture.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiEVO

•Join the MicrobeTV Discord server • Evolution of a minimal cell (Nature)

Nels – Life magnified stamp collection

Vincent – Matters Microbial

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

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

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email

Become a patron of TWiEVO

•Join the MicrobeTV Discord server • Metabolic evolution during competition (Curr Biol)

Nels – How amino acids got their names (Source)

Vincent – EVs Fix One Pollution Problem—And Worsen Another

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