EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

Center for Evolutionary Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, USA. Tweets managed by @flickanator101 and @RokasLab vanderbilt.edu/evolution Nashville, TN Joined May 2019

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

a day ago

Vanderbilt's Owen Jones just released Force of Nature — arguing that natural selection's logic is already being used to design antennas, treat cancer, and create adhesives. Evolution is not just history. It is a tool. 🧬

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 days ago

Dave McCauley spent 35 years overturning assumptions about how populations evolve. 1st w/ beetles; finding that single females could found entire new populations. Then w/ plants; discovering that mitochondrial DNA is more dynamic and variable than expected.

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

4 days ago

Two grad students in the Behringer Lab are overturning assumptions. William McLaughlin is proving mathematical chaos theory using living bacteria. Owen Hale found that oxygen-free bacteria mutate more than expected b/c pop size matters more than oxygen.

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

5 days ago

Some tardigrades produce a protein called Dsup that physically shields their DNA from radiation damage by blocking breaks from forming. When expressed in human cells, it cut radiation-induced DNA breaks in half. #Evolution got there first. 🐻

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

a week ago

Congratulations to our 2026-2027 CoEvoD Fellows! 🧬 Claire Cheng, bacterial DNA methylation (Behringer). Joshua Eis, how birds evolved long lifespans (Castiglione). Mia Elbon, human aging and life history, (Herculano-Houzel) Three fellows. Three labs. One mission. #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

a week ago

We'd love your feedback!

EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

We post for you — tell us what you actually want to see! What's your favorite part of our week? 👇 #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

We post for you — tell us what you actually want to see! What's your favorite part of our week? 👇 #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

a week ago

Yucca moths and yuccas cannot survive without each other. But Vanderbilt's Olle Pellmyr discovered cheater moths hiding inside that ancient partnership — and the yuccas had already evolved a way to keep them in check. #Coevolution at its most elegant. 🌵 #TBT #Science

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

Amphibians are facing one of the worst wildlife disease crises in recorded history. Vanderbilt's Rollins-Smith Lab is finding out why some survive — and the answer is written into their immune system's evolutionary history. 🐸 #Evolution #Frogs

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

🐙 An octopus has 3 hearts and blue blood. But the wildest part? 2/3 of its neurons are in its arms, not its head. Each arm has its own nerve cluster that can make decisions independently. The central brain does not micromanage. It delegates. #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

Our Spring 2026 magazine is live. Ice storms, chaos theory, AI antibodies, a Guggenheim Fellow, and bacteria that break the rules of mutation. Free to read on our website! #Vanderbilt #Evolution #Magazine #SciComm

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

In the 1940s, Max Delbruck was at Vandy asking how viruses replicate and pass on genetic information. His work on bacteriophages laid the foundation for molecular biology. He won the Nobel Prize for his VU work in 1969. #ThrowbackThursday #Vanderbilt

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

2 weeks ago

A gut pathogen does not just survive inflammation. It engineers it. New research from the Zhu Lab in Cell reveals how toxin-producing Bacteroides fragilis rewires host metabolism to create a more oxygenated environment then thrives in it. Big implications for colorectal cancer 🧬

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The Postdoctoral @thepostdoctoral

a month ago

The Lasting Effects of Adversity in Rhesus Macaques - Vanderbilt University - Many factors influence growth and reproductive patterns in animals and people alike. New research, led by postdoctoral researcher Rachel Petersen of ... - ift.tt/KZbx4Fr

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

3 weeks ago

Antarctic icefish #evolved mutations in their vision protein that simultaneously change how they absorb light AND how fast they reset after seeing it. A dual adaptation to one of Earth's most extreme visual environments. Research from @VanderbiltU's Castiglione Lab. 🧬

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

3 weeks ago

Did you know that sharks have been ruling the seas longer than trees have been around? 🌊🦈 While the oldest known tree, Wattieza, is ~385MY old, sharks have been cruising for ~450MY! That’s 65MY of fin-tastic supremacy before trees even started shading! #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

3 weeks ago

Mark your calendars, Nashville! 🎉 November 5 ESI is hosting a Biodiversity Day at @adventuresci — faculty booths, fossils, and a talk by @Jaap_de_Roode on animal self-medication. 🐝🦋 Registration link coming soon! #BiodiversityDay #Evolution

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EvolutionVU @EvolutionVU

3 weeks ago

Before anyone had a personal computer, Nils Baricelli was at Vanderbilt simulating #evolution on punch cards. His colleagues thought it was strange. History has been kinder. Some ideas are just too early for their moment. #ThrowbackThursday #ArtificialLife #Vanderbilt

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Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science @vuartsci

4 weeks ago

Congratulations to Assistant Professor @Linmengmet, who has been named an Early Career Fellow by @ESA_org. Her research shows how small shifts in vegetation, like earlier leaf production or longer pollen seasons, can have big impacts on urban life and public health.