Echoes Through Time: From Galaxies to Genes

Long after the Big Bang, faint echoes still ripple through the cosmos. These baryonic acoustic oscillations—subtle patterns in the distribution of galaxies—are helping scientists map the expansion of the universe and probe the mystery of dark energy. With advanced telescopes and deep data, we’re uncovering the story of how the universe evolved—and where it might be headed.

Humans are still evolving—and surprisingly fast! In this talk, we’ll explore how scientists use genetic scores, called polygenic scores (PGS), to detect signs of recent adaptation. But interpreting these signals isn't always straightforward: they can be biased by ancestry and hidden confounders. We'll also dive into how evolution can happen over just a few generations, and how genes don’t act alone—they interact with early-life environments, which can change from year to year. Evolution is messy, but that’s what makes it fascinating.