logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
41m 25s

Modelling Evolution

Kyle Polich
About this episode

Modeling evolutionary processes goes way beyond the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium we all learned in biology class. Natural selection comes from many sources like resources availability, mate preferences, competition. Modeling entire populations of organisms of different species is the holy grail of digital evolution. Join our discussion with evolutionary biologist and software engineer Ben Haller to learn about his work on SLiM and how it helps other biologists model population genetics over time. 

Up next
Jul 6
The Network Diversion Problem
In this episode, Professor Pål Grønås Drange from the University of Bergen, introduces the field of Parameterized Complexity - a powerful framework for tackling hard computational problems by focusing on specific structural aspects of the input. This framework allows researchers ... Show More
46m 14s
Jun 28
Complex Dynamic in Networks
In this episode, we learn why simply analyzing the structure of a network is not enough, and how the dynamics - the actual mechanisms of interaction between components - can drastically change how information or influence spreads. Our guest, Professor Baruch Barzel of Bar-Ilan Un ... Show More
56 m
Jun 22
Github Network Analysis
In this episode we'll discuss how to use Github data as a network to extract insights about teamwork. Our guest, Gabriel Ramirez, manager of the notifications team at GitHub, will show how to apply network analysis to better understand and improve collaboration within his enginee ... Show More
36m 46s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
296 | Brandon Ogbunu on Fitness Seascapes and the Course of Evolution
Biological evolution via natural selection is a simple idea that becomes enormously complicated in its realization. Populations of organisms are driven toward increased "fitness," a measure of how successfully we reproduce our genetic information. But fitness is a subtle concept, ... Show More
1h 15m
Feb 2024
266 | Christoph Adami on How Information Makes Sense of Biology
Evolution is sometimes described -- not precisely, but with some justification -- as being about the "survival of the fittest." But that idea doesn't work unless there is some way for one generation to pass down information about how best to survive. We now know that such informa ... Show More
1h 20m
Jan 2025
302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution
Randomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints ... Show More
1h 30m
Mar 2025
New Research on The Evolution of Intelligent Life
The guests today are co-authors of a new paper in Science Advances titled: “A reassessment of the ‘hard-steps’ model for the evolution of intelligent life.” Jennifer Macalady is a Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research is focused on microbial ... Show More
1h 12m
Apr 10
Neuroepigenetic Mechanisms and Primate Epigenome Evolution (Boyan Bonev)
In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Boyan Bonev from the HelmholtzZetrum in Munich about his work on neuroepigenetics, focusing on gene regulation, chromatin architecture, and primate epigenome evolution, This Episode focuses on Dr. Bonev’s recent research, ... Show More
45m 11s
Dec 2024
299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Life
Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture, a more general framework tha ... Show More
1h 13m
Sep 2024
EP 153: How genomics is re-writing the taxonomy of disease with Lon Cardon, President and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory
This week, Patrick welcomes President and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, Lon Cardon. They discuss the rise of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and how they changed the face of genetics research and why Lon took the plunge and moved from academia to industry in an era when i ... Show More
40m 25s
Aug 2024
Alan C. Love, "Evolution and Development: Conceptual Issues" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
It was an astounding discovery in the early 1980's that the same genetic sequence, the homeobox, controlled the development of basic body plans across the animal kingdom, whether the result was a flatworm, an octopus, a mouse, or a human. This discovery of the conservation of a k ... Show More
1h 5m
Apr 2010
Dismantle the family with Darwinian tools
The comparative method can be used to investigate how culture relates to environment. The reproductive pattern of human females is a particularly interesting puzzle for evolutionary biologists. 
8m 3s
Jan 2025
Biologists Call For A Halt To ‘Mirror Life’ Research
You’re probably familiar with the concept of handedness—a glove made for your left hand looks basically like the one for your right hand, but won’t fit—it’s a mirror image. Many of life’s important molecules, including proteins and DNA, are chiral, meaning they can exist in eithe ... Show More
18m 6s