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

Science Picks

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)
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Science Picks

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)
• Timestamps by Jolene

Science Picks

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)
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Science Picks

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)
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Science Picks

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

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TWiEVO 126: Beyond Inheritance with Roxanne Khamsi June 1, 2026

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)
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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)
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Science Picks

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)
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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 explain research attempting to explain why among humans, females around the world live on average 5 years longer than males, but the trend is reversed in many birds, amphibians, and insects.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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• Sexual selection drives sex difference in adult life expectancy (Sci Adv)
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Science Picks 1:37:00

Nels – NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers Vincent – Kennedy's Comments on Circumcision Are Only Going to Confuse and Shame Parents

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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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• David Baltimore interview (TWiV 100)
• 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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• Neuropeptides and behavior of leaf cutter ants (Cell)
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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 –https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/us-drop-guidance-limit-alcohol-one-or-two-drinks-day-sources-2025a1000g8y?src=rssThere'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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• Ultra-reduced archaeal genome (bioRxiv)
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Nels – The Bethesda Declaration Vincent –https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01216-7US 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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Nels – Evolution related game Vincent –https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01216-7Should 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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Nels – Navigating to the forefront of innovation: A celebration of immigrant scientists Vincent –https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/health/measles-kennedy-vitamin-a.htmlExclusive: 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 –https://notebooklm.google/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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