• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Butterfly Wing Patterns

Butterfly Wing Patterns

September 19, 2017
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/170919_sciup_wing.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

Richard Wallbank Smithsonian Institution and University of Cambridge
Wing patterns of a normal Sara Longwing butterfly (left) compared to a mutant butterfly generated with CRISPR gene editing technology (right) at the Smithonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (STRI). (Richard Wallbank/Smithsonian Institution and University of Cambridge)

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Butterfly genetics. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

There are twenty thousand species of butterflies, each with its own pattern of wing color and design. George Washington University biologist Arnaud Martin and his colleagues recently knocked out a single gene critical for wing coloration in seven different types of butterflies.

ARNAUD MARTIN (George Washington University):

We were interested in understanding the genetic basis of biodiversity and we were asking a very simple question: can a single gene evolve to shape a lot of different things in many many species?

HIRSHON:

If one gene always had the same function, they should have seen the same effect in all the butterflies: maybe their spots would be bigger, or a different color. But they found that each species responded differently. The finding that a single gene can lead to a variety of novelty has implications for other organisms, as well, including humans. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.

Story by Bob Hirshon

 

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Biology, Genetics & Evolution, Wildlife
Previous Post:Old Fish
Next Post:Sizing Up Extinction

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos