Shaking the bird family tree

Now that genome sequencing allows scientists to paint an evolutionary portrait of large groups of species, Erich Jarvis says our view of the way many important traits evolved is about to change. Jarvis has focused his studies on the evolution of vocal learning in songbirds and humans—and through a careful examination of molecular pathways he’s found that this ability has evolved several times. He will share insights from comparative genomic studies of a wide swath of the birds and their older relatives, the crocodilians, that are likely to upset conventional ideas about brain evolution and the avian family tree.

For supplemental information about this New Horizons in Science briefing, see the CASW website