Monthly Archives: July 2012

Big horns trump smooth pickup lines every time

From our latest press release: Elk and rhinoceros beetles aren’t diabetic, but to grow big horns and attract mates it appears that the males are insulin-dependent. Ian Dworkin, Michigan State University zoologist, was part of a team that for the … Continue reading

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Evolving Robot Brains using Evolutionary Algorithms

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is courtesy of MSU undergraduate student Faisal Tameesh. For more information about Faisal’s work, you can contact him at tameeshf at msu dot edu.

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BEACON 2012 Congress Recap

The annual BEACON Congress took place this week at Michigan State University. In addition to talks and posters about ongoing research and education progress, one of the most important kinds of sessions held at BEACON Congresses are “Sandbox Sessions.” Each … Continue reading

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Does sociality influence disease resistance?

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU graduate student Katy Califf. I’m generally interested in how genetic diversity and behavior influence each other in wild populations of mammals, particularly in the realm of disease ecology. More … Continue reading

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Evolution of Music Illustrates Epistatic Interactions

In today’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, BEACONite Chris Adami comments on a research article by MacCallum, Mauch, Burt & Leroy on “The evolution of music by public choice.” Much like the digital evolution techniques used … Continue reading

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Evolving Robot Behavior

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU graduate student Chad Byers. I have always been fascinated by the mechanisms that drive both the molecular and digital systems of our world and have been fortunate enough, through … Continue reading

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Phylotastic!

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by University of Texas at Austin graduate student Emily Jane McTavish.  In early June several BEACONites participated in a hackathon at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), in Durham, NC. I … Continue reading

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