COVID-19 phylogeny

May 8, 2020

Tracking COVID-19 outbreaks with evolution

Earlier this month, an autopsy revealed that COVID-19 began killing people in the United States weeks before we noticed. The newly discovered coronavirus victims had not traveled recently and probably caught it from someone in the community. This suggests that the virus was spreading person-to-person in the U.S. earlier than previously believed. The revised timeline also fits well with new evidence collected by scientists who use evolutionary techniques to unveil the sources and course of COVID-19 outbreaks. Get the whole story here.
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Evolutionary trees: A primer
by the Understanding Evolution team

Confused by a tree diagram in a textbook, webpage, or museum exhibit? Need a quick review of tree-reading before delving into a more difficult topic? This short primer is the place to start. It provides the basic facts you need to know to interpret trees. You can explore the following topics:

• What is an evolutionary tree?


• How to read trees


• Understanding evolutionary relationships


• Clades within clades


• Trees are hypotheses


• The anatomy of an evolutionary tree


• Tips for tree reading

Or click "next" to get started!