Dr Pontus Skoglund, winner of this year’s Balfour Lecture for early career researchers, uses ancient DNA to unlock the secrets of human evolution, old diseases and population migration.
All in Evolution
Louisa Zoliewski: From chubby mice to everyday toxins
Dr Louisa Zoliewski was awarded the inaugural Bruce Cattanach prize for her PhD thesis on the genetics of fat distribution. She tells us how her skills and knowledge have led her to a career in genetic toxicology within the biotech industry.
Owen Greenwood: Trapping skinks in paradise
PhD student Owen Greenwood tells us about his genetic conservation work on the critically endangered Bermuda skink, supported by the 2023 Heredity Fieldwork Grant.
Larry Moran: What’s in your genome?
If less than two per cent of your genome is actual genes, then what’s the rest? Is it just junk?
Rebecca Coffey: Evolutionary tales and Just So Stories
Author Rebecca Coffey chats about wasp facial recognition genes, how yeast epigenetics explain the Dutch Hunger Winter and a dinner party tale of spider cannibalism.
Nature’s genetic engineers
Some organisms don’t stick with the genome they’ve got they alter it along the way through programmed chromosome elimination and genome editing.
Jim Costa: Alfred Russel Wallace, a radical by nature
Professor Jim Costa, author of ‘Radical by Nature’, tells us about the extraordinary life of Alfred Russel Wallace and how this Victorian naturalist shaped our views on evolution.
Thomas Boothby: Surviving at the extremes of life
Prof. Thomas Boothby studies how tardigrades survive extreme conditions and how we can use these adaptations to improve human health, both on Earth and in space.
João Pedro de Magalhães: Old whale, new tricks
João Pedro de Magalhães studies some of the longest lived animals in the world, like the bowhead whale which can live for 200 years, to understand how we can improve human ageing.
Linda Goodman: Stealing secrets from sleepy squirrels
Dr Linda Goodman tells us about the research Fauna Bio are doing into the hibernation adaptations of 13-lined ground squirrels, and how it might help humans recover from heart attacks.
Sexing chicks: How genetically modified female-only chickens could transform the egg industry
New GM technology that selects only female chicks to hatch could improve animal welfare - but what might be the real cost?
Why Y bye-bye? Is the Y chromosome disappearing and will men really go extinct?
The Y chromosome is shrinking - but this doesn’t mean that males will vanish altogether. For the Amami spiny rat, this has already happened - so how do they cope?
Hot stuff: how climate change is affecting sex ratios
For species whose sex is influenced by temperature, like turtles and toads, climate change could cause a catastrophic shift in the balance of males to females.
All about (genetic) Eve: the quest to find the female founder of our human species
We find out how researchers are using mitochondrial DNA to find the ‘mother of all mothers’
Origin of man: In search of the original Y chromosomal Adam
Y chromosomes and surnames pass from father to son, shedding light on origins, inheritance and migration.
The greatest shoal on Earth
Popularly known as the “greatest shoal on Earth”, the KwaZulu-Natal sardine run involves tens to hundreds of millions of Pacific sardines packed into high density shoals to make the annual trip from the coast of South Africa to spend the winter in the Indian Ocean.
For sheer size and spectacle, this marine migration is no less impressive than the wildebeests on terra firma. But unlike the Serengeti herds, which migrate in search of food, the underlying reason for the sardine run is much less clear.
Know your place - the genetics (and epigenetics) of bee societies
Bees have long fascinated geneticists. These eusocial insects live in highly ordered societies, with distinct roles, or castes, within them - a place for every bee, and every bee in its place. But how does a hive of genetically near-identical individuals end up diversifying into such different roles?
On the wing: genetic compasses
Every year, tiny songbirds - some weighing as little as 3 grams - set off on an incredible journey. Often travelling alone and at night, they fly as much as 15,000km between their winter and summer homes, yet somehow manage to return to the same location every year. But how do these birds know where to go?
Kadeem Gilbert: life in a death trap
Dr Kadeem Gilbert is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at Michegan State University who has been researching the pool of digestive juices. And it turns out that it’s not only a place where insects drown and get digested by the pitcher plant, it’s also home to a whole community of living things that are able to survive despite the harsh conditions.
Ulrike Bauer: killing on a knife edge
One group of carnivorous plants are the pitcher plants, and they’re usually found in warm, tropical habitats around the world. Dr Ulrike Bauer studies these plants at the University of Bristol to find out more about how they’re able to successfully trap insects so easily.