Darwin first proposed evolution as a way that species change and diverge to fill niches in their environment. This observation led to the first, rudimentary species trees, showing ancestors and descendants across genetic lineages.
But this work is far from settled. As we continue to collect more and richer data sets from species, whether they be plants, bacteria, or mammals like ourselves, researchers need new and better methods for building phylogenetic trees. That’s where Tandy Warnow, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, comes in.
Find our transcript here: LINK
Curious to learn more? Check out these additional links:
Tandy’s talk for IMSI’s workshop, Eliciting Structure in Genomics Data: https://www.imsi.institute/videos/theory-and-practice-for-large-scale-phylogeny-estimation/
History of the ‘Tree of Life’: https://www.nature.com/articles/540038a
Multispecies coalescent process: https://academic.oup.com/book/26340/chapter-abstract/194642189?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Gene duplication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_by_gene_duplication
Follow more of IMSI’s work: www.IMSI.institute, (twitter) @IMSI_institute, (mastodon) https://sciencemastodon.com/@IMSI, (instagram) IMSI.institute
Follow Tandy Warnow: https://tandy.cs.illinois.edu/
This episode was audio engineered by Tyler Damme.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is funded by NSF grant DMS-1929348.
Our last episode featuring Statistician-in-Residence Tiffany Christian (at least for now), dives into sampling methods. How can we track animal populations, especially those who...
The world, and the US in particular, have a complicated history with nuclear fission. Splitting atoms led to both the development of nuclear energy...
Researchers become interested in their fields through all sorts of unique paths. Today’s guest, Angel Hsu of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, came...