Andrew Flick

Originally posted by UC-Berkeley team, edits by Andy Flick Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Scientists Discover Key Genetic Adaptations in Partnership with Turkana Pastoralists of Northern Kenya Groundbreaking study reveals how thousands of years of natural selection shaped remarkable adaptations to an extreme environment. Through a collaboration… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Hatmaker posing with the Evolutionary Studies outreach casts. Annie Hatmaker, Ph.D., has spent the better part of a decade studying fungi and their secondary metabolites – small molecules they use to communicate, defend, and thrive. Her new publication, “Population structure in a… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator From rural high schools to elementary classrooms, trainees of the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) are bringing evolutionary science directly to the next generation. On May 9, a team of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers visited McGavock Elementary… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has named Vanderbilt University’s Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) as one of its 2025 recipients of the prestigious Friend of Darwin award. This national honor recognizes ESI’s outstanding contributions to advancing public understanding of evolution… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since its launch, the pilot grant program has supported graduate students and postdoctoral researchers across a wide range of disciplines—including biological sciences, anthropology, Earth and environmental sciences, and biomedical research. Trainees have used… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator In football, defense keeps the opposing team in check. A similar strategy is at play inside our cells. Negative feedback loops (NFLs) help regulate how cells respond to signals, for example, dialing down activity when things get too intense. A new study from… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since the program began in Fall of 2021, 70 trainee travel grants have been awarded across 13 labs in the departments of Biological Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Anthropology. These awards have primarily gone to graduate students (49), though… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Since launching in 2021, the Evolutionary Studies Initiative’s pilot grant program has helped support more than thirty research teams across the departments of Biological Sciences, Earth and Environmental Science, Anthropology, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. The premise is simple: a little funding, awarded… Read More

DeSantis and Gnash with a saber-toothed cat! Nashville, TN – April 4, 2025 – A innovative study led by researchers from Vanderbilt University sheds new light on the dietary ecology of the iconic saber-toothed cat, Smilodon. The study, published in a special issue on sabertoothed organisms in The Anatomical Record,… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator Evolution often makes a deal with the devil, creating challenges for treating human disease. By mass, the muscles of thoroughbred racehorses consume more than twice the oxygen of elite human athletes. Yet, oxygen produces free radicals, which damage organ tissues. Balancing energy production… Read More