Andrew Flick

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Pectinifrons abyssalis from Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Canada(A–C) Photographs of steep ‘U’-shaped (A), ‘S’-shaped (B), and gentle ‘U’-shaped (C) morphotypes of Pectinifrons. Scale bars: 5 cm.(D) Schematic diagrams of Pectinifrons morphotypes. The classic idiom form fits function does not always mean that… Read More

de Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator  Amanda Lea, profesora asistente en biología, con un equipo de expertos globales, han descubierto nuevas secuencias de selección natural en humanos. El equipo, dirigido por el codirector del Proyecto de Salud y Antropología Tsimane (Tsimane Health and Life History Project) Michael Gurven de… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator (Spanish/español) Amanda Lea, assistant professor of biology, along with a global team of experts, have discovered new pathways of natural selection in humans. The group, led by Tsimane Health and Life History Project co-Director Michael Gurven of the University of… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Monica Keith, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, recently co-authored a paper addressing severe climate events in Bangladesh and their lasting effects on human health outcomes. Working with Shodagor fishing families in Matlab, the team found that body mass decreased following the flood… Read More

By Kelly Tingle, Evolutionary Studies communications assistant Former Vanderbilt University undergraduate student Miya Hugaboom provides insight into fungal mitochondrial genomic evolution in a paper she published recently as lead author, along with Biological Sciences graduate student Annie Hatmaker and Professor Antonis Rokas. The study focused on the mitochondrial… Read More

Richard Lenski, a world-renowned evolutionary biologist whose long-term evolution experiment of the microorganism Escherichia coli has been running for over three decades, will deliver the 2023 Darwin Day Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Lenski’s talk, part of Vanderbilt’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative International Darwin Day celebrations, will begin at… Read More

By Kelly Tingle, Evolutionary Studies science communications assistant **This story has been edited to included information about the Collaborative for STEM Education and Outreach Local students from Stratford and Overton high schools got to excavate 70-million-year-old oysters, clams, and shrimp at the ESI Fossil Search, a field trip sponsored in… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Kristen Ogden Kristen Ogden, an assistant professor in the Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology departments, studies what happens when two viruses attack the same cell – also known as coinfection. In a recent study led by an alumnus of her lab,… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Annie Hatmaker, along with an excellent team of researchers including her advisor, Antonis Rokas, recently published a study identifying differences in virulence among Aspergillus species. Aspergillus is a common human-pathogenic genus of fungi that includes A. flavus which can cause aspergillosis and fungal… Read More

By: Andy Flick Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Associate professor of psychology and human development, Laura Novick, and graduate student Joanna (Jingyi) Liu, published a paper highlighting the importance of intentionally and thoughtfully designed figures to explain evolutionary relationships and overcome preconceived misconceptions. Laura Novick poses with the hominid… Read More