Nels and Vincent discuss how behavioural individuality determines infection risk in clonal ant colonies. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO Links for t

Germs trapping worms

Feb 27th, 2024 1h 17m

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 Beco

Going bananas over the origins of corn

Dec 26th, 2023 1h 29m

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

Watering the viruses until they bloom

Nov 14th, 2023 1h 1m

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 bl

A bacteria, a phage, and a selfish element walk into a cryptomonad

Sep 29th, 2023 1h 37m

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 Podca

Faster than a speeding bacteria

Aug 25th, 2023 1h 30m

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

There's algae in the jar

Jul 21st, 2023 1h 35m

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 patr

Meet your very distant cousins

Jul 17th, 2023 1h 31m

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 the Asgard archaea. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent R

The mystery of the mouse mummies

May 12th, 2023 1h 27m

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? Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts,

On the outer rim of tumor evolution

Apr 25th, 2023 1h 40m

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 sequencing data. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello S

Dog days of evolution in the shadows of Chernobyl

Mar 26th, 2023 1h 15m

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 step in assessing the effects of exposure to long-ter

Nathan Clark's revolutionary hair care advice

Feb 21st, 2023 1h 34m

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 changes that underlie mammalian hairlessness. Hosts:

TWiEVO 86: Pulling out the stops in genetic code evolution

Feb 5th, 2023 1h 45m

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 with the apropos name, Blastocrithidia nonstop. Hos

Teaching old dogs new genetic tricks

Dec 21st, 2022 1h 37m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google

Decoding our defenses to the Black Death

Nov 8th, 2022 1h 31m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free):

Evolution spreads its wings (and then loses them)

Oct 24th, 2022 1h 32m

Florian Maderspacher from Current Biology joins Nels and Vincent to discuss a special issue of the journal on birds. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guest: Florian Maderspacher Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, em

A genetic hack for the human brain

Sep 25th, 2022 1h 32m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (fr

Evolution's new and improved slime molds

Aug 24th, 2022 1h 26m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts

Viruses of a feather bottleneck together

Aug 1st, 2022 1h 24m

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 SARS-CoV-2. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

When the immune system is away, SARS-CoV-2 will play

Jul 2nd, 2022 1h 38m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Click arrow to play Downlo

The virus daily double

May 26th, 2022 1h 21m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (fre

The mutations of our lives

Apr 26th, 2022 1h 19m

Alex joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his work which demonstrates that somatic mutation rates scale with lifespan in mammals. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guest: Alex Cagan Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, em

One-step symbiosis

Mar 22nd, 2022 1h 25m

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. Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello Click arrow to play Download TWiEVO 75 (103 MB .mp3, 86 min

Even the BANAL coronaviruses are interesting

Feb 24th, 2022 1h 38m

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 Vincent Racaniello Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiEVO L

On racism, not race with Joe Graves

Feb 3rd, 2022 1h 25m

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 Elde and Vincent Racaniello Guest: Joe Graves Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Googl