TWiEVO 70: On Life’s Edge with Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer joins Nels to talk about science writing, science communication, viruses, and his new book, On Life’s Edge.

Host: Nels Elde

Guest: Carl Zimmer

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Science Picks 1:11:10

Nels – Remembrance of Dick Lewontin
Carl – From telomere to telomere: the transcriptional and epigenetic state of human repeat elements

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TWiEVO 69: Swimming in SARS-CoV-2 sequences

Nels and Vincent discuss the identification of novel bat coronaviruses that shed light on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, dating the first cases of COVID-19 to mid-November 2019, and recovery of deleted genome sequences from early in the Wuhan outbreak.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:14:03

Nels – The Last—And Only—Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out
Vincent – Human Behavior During the Pandemic Is More Important Than Any Covid Variant

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TWiEVO 68: Stepping through time with SARS-CoV-2

Nels and Vincent explain a new method for calculating the most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2, which concludes that the ancestral virus was circulating in October/November 2019, before its first detection in China.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:24:20

Nels – Ed Yong pandemic trauma and We’re Not Ready for the Next Pandemic
Vincent – Furin cleavage site is not a smoking gun

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TWiVEO 67: Corona chameleon

Nels and Vincent review evidence for recombinant SARS-CoV-2 genomes arising in the B.1.1.7 lineage within the United Kingdom.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:30:33

Nels – Mars rover helicopter flight!
Vincent – TWiN 17: Worms see the light with Michael Nitabach

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TWiEVO 66: SARS-2-mouse

Nels and Vincent review a preprint demonstrating that changes in the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 variants B1.351 and P.1 allow the viruses to reproduce in mouse cells in culture and in laboratory mice.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:26:14

Nels – Billion years of plate tectonics
Vincent – Sapiens a Graphic History by Yuval Noah Harari

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TWiEVO 65: Variants in the mist

Nels and Vincent review evidence that a single amino acid change in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein has driven adaptation to humans, followed by an update on the status of variants of concern.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:21:23

Nels – Radio Garden
Vincent – Our World in Data – Coronavirus

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TWiEVO 64: Seeing the lineages for the variants

Nels and Vincent consider evolution of antibody immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and update the situation on novel virus variants of concern with potentially altered fitness and reactivity with antibodies.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:41:02

Nels – Biden Administration PCAST and The Hill We Climb
Vincent – Four inaugural quotations – Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Biden

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TWiEVO 63: Year of the coronavirus

Nels and Vincent wrap up 2020 with a discussion of novel variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa, how to interpret the rapidly emerging genome sequence data and what to look for in the coming weeks as these variants spread across the globe.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:21:47

Nels – Katalin Karikos’ career and mRNA vaccines
Vincent – Reverse Engineering of mRNA vaccine

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TWiEVO 62: Army ants with Daniel Kronauer

Daniel joins Nels and Vincent to discuss his new book on army ants, the wickedest insects ever to roam the planet, and his research on them and clonal raider ants.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

Guest: Daniel Kronauer

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Science Picks 1:27:59

Daniel – Desert Navigator by Rüdiger Wehner and Insects of Suriname by Maria Sibylla Merian
Nels – NPR Scicommers
Vincent – The Vintage Beauty Of Soviet Control Rooms

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TWiEVO 61: Shot and chaser of SARS-CoV-2 evolution

Nels and Vincent discuss an opinion piece on 12 evolutionary insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic is shaping human nature, and prolonged SARS-CoV-2 reproduction in an immunosuppressed patient.

Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello

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Science Picks 1:19:42

Nels – Scott Edwards bikes across US; support diversity in evolution
Vincent – 30 computers sculpture project

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