In this episode I explain dog genetics to my friend, comedian Zach Jobe. The story of how dogs became what they are today is a two stage process beginning with the ancient and gradual domestication of dogs from wolves and breeding based of jobs such as herding, hunting or guarding. Then modern dog breeding practices changed the landscape completely and rapidly resulting in some weird genetic quirks that give us the lovable little sweethearts that we know today.

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Created by: Ryan Pevey at evolio.org and Zach Jobe @zhjobe

Concept: A science and comedy converstion about dementia and how it impacts people and society, as well as bold predictions of event that may or may not happen this year, based on scientific skepticism.

Tools: DaVinci Resolve, GIMP

Intro music by Maksym Malko from Pixabay (pixabay.com/music/upbeat-podcast-interview-music-254186/)

Podcast streams:

redcircle.com/shows/04ecc7a3-3383-4ca0-bff3-c55d04100ed5

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-science-stories/id1874450380

open.spotify.com/show/50xaIb6jjmSJv7georpfVt?si=16e6c0e030414593

music.amazon.com/podcasts/b0415a99-f209-4c66-80c5-d8eb2b490811/hidden-science-stories

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Citations:

vonHoldt et al. (2010) , "Genome-wide SNP and haplotype analyses reveal a rich history underlying dog domestication." Nature 464:898–902. DOI: 10.1038/nature08837.

Bergström et al. (2022) , "Grey wolf genomic history reveals a dual ancestry of dogs." Nature 606:313–320. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04824-9.

Savolainen et al. (2002) , "Genetic evidence for an East Asian origin of domestic dogs." Science 298:1610–1613.

Thalmann et al. (2013) , "Complete mitochondrial genomes of ancient canids suggest a European origin of domestic dogs." Science 342:871–874.

Parker et al. (2004) , "Genetic structure of the purebred domestic dog." Science 304:1160–1164.

Parker et al. (2017) , "Genomic analyses reveal the influence of geographic origin, migration, and hybridization on modern dog breed development." Cell Reports 19:697–708. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.03.079.

0:00 An ancient friend

4:47 A tale in two parts

14:00 The modern dog breeding era

21:31 Genetic bottlenecks and founder effects

27:48 An ideal genetic model

38:02 Ethics of animal research

46:23 Dog genetic testing

55:26 Addendums and errata

57:36 Donut labs prediction update

1:03:41 Outro