Evolution
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This Easter weekend, hunt for fossils, not colored eggs
Vanderbilt students will give visitors a glimpse of Tennessee’s ancient past April 4 by guiding fossil hunts, identifying fossils and giving presentations and guided tours. Read MoreMar 24, 2015
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Shifting evolution into reverse promises cheaper, greener way to make new drugs
By shifting evolution into reverse to produce an expensive HIV drug out of a simple sugar, Vanderbilt chemist Brian Bachmann has shown that it may be possible to manufacture exotic and expensive synthetic drugs as easily as brewing beer. Read MoreMar 24, 2014
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What makes us human?
Using computational tools to search for the genetic basis of what makes us human, Vanderbilt Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics Tony Capra and colleagues at the University of California-San Francisco have identified promising candidate regions. Read MoreNov 22, 2013
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Pioneers of Discovery: Computer science drives Capra’s biomedical research
Tony Capra, Ph.D., is a new assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research at Vanderbilt. His goal is to use the tools of computer science to address problems in genetics, evolution and biomedicine. Read MoreOct 3, 2013
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Microbes can influence evolution of their hosts
A new study provides the first direct evidence that microbes can contribute to the origin of new species by reducing the viability of hybrids produced between males and females of different species. Read MoreJul 18, 2013
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Untangling the tree of life
Vanderbilt phylogeneticists examined the reasons why large-scale tree-of-life studies are producing contradictory results and have proposed a suite of novel techniques to resolve the contradictions. Read MoreMay 15, 2013
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What do beer, dogs and cats have in common? A tale of microbial domestication
Study maps the genetic changes involved in the domestication of Aspergillus oryzae, one of the fungi used to make sake, soy sauce and miso. Read MoreJul 12, 2012
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Evolutionary perspective illuminates controversial economic theory
Groundbreaking new research in the field of “evolutionary analysis in law” not only provides additional evidence that chimpanzees share the controversial human psychological trait known as the endowment effect – which in humans has implications for law – but also shows the effect can be turned on or off for single objects, depending on their immediate situational usefulness. Read MoreJul 5, 2012
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Tennessean op-ed: Anti-science legislation offers prospect of a new Scopes trial
By Roger Cone, chairman of the department of molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt, Jon Kaas, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt, and Robert Webster, Rose Marie Thomas Chair in Virology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital This opinion piece was published on the… Read MoreMar 26, 2012
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What scientists know about cicadas
Periodic cicadas, like those currently emerging in Middle Tennessee, play an important role in the local ecosystem. Read MoreMay 19, 2011
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Could bacterial hitchhikers influence formation of new host species?
Vanderbilt researchers are exploring what role, if any, bacteria play in environmental diversity, with the aim of answering one of biology's most fundamental questions. Read MoreMay 5, 2011
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Discovery of jumping gene cluster tangles tree of life
Since the days of Darwin, the “tree of life” has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species. The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however,… Read MoreFeb 4, 2011