This Week in Evolution

TWiEVO 126: Beyond Inheritance with Roxanne Khamsi
June 1, 2026 Science journalist Roxanne Khamsi joins Nels and Vincent discuss her first book, Beyond Inheritance, which explores how DNA continuously mutates throughout our lives, challenging the idea that our genetic destiny is fixed at birth.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Roxanne Khamsi
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Beyond Inheritance (Amazon)
Timestamps by Jolene
Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]

Nels and Vincent discuss the development of a comprehensive transcriptomic atlas of early
embryogenesis from 61 animal species to understand the control of gene expression transitions from maternally deposited products to newly transcribed zygotic RNA.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
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Evolutionary landscapes of zygotic genome activation across animals (bioRxiv)
Timestamps by Jolene
Science Picks
Nels – Biologists Confirm Not Much Evolution Happened Today
Vincent – How Trains Take Electricity from Wires Without Breaking Contact
Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

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Nels and Vincent discuss the discovery of a short RNA with the ability to catalyze its own synthesis.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
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A small polymerase ribozyme (Science)
Timestamps by Jolene
Science Picks
Nels – The University of Illinois Just Released a Popcorn So Good It Doesn't Need Butter
Vincent – Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp
Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

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Nels and Vincent explain how stinkbug females smear fungus on their eggs to protect them from wasp parasitism.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
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Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs (Science)
Timestamps by Jolene
Science Picks
Nels – Meet the Olympic superstar who trains under the radar in Utah
Vincent – The Discovery That Changed the Universe
Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]

Nels and Vincent explain how selfishness evolved multiple times from an essential tRNA synthetase gene in a nematode.
Hosts: Nels Elde and Vincent Racaniello
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Links for this episode
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Evolution of selfishness from a tRNA synthetase gene (Nat Ecol Evol)
Timestamps by Jolene
Science Picks
Nels - From Where Does it STEM?
Vincent - An Act of Cosmic Sabotage
Music on TWiEVO is performed by Trampled by Turtles

Send your evolution questions and comments to [email protected]