models of evolution

n this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is joined again by Brendan Dixon, a programmer with the Biologic Institute who recently coauthored a paper on his co-developed program, Stylus. Dixon continues the two-part interview by sharing how Stylus was developed, what the authors hope is accomplished by using the program, and where others can take a look at the code itself to understand and see what the authors have done. Listen as Dixon further explains how Stylus can help us better understand the strengths and limits of evolution.

In this episode of ID the Future, CSC’s Casey Luskin is joined by Brendan Dixon, a programmer with the Biologic Institute who recently coauthored a paper on his co-developed program, Stylus. Dixon explains that Stylus is a computer program that is designed to simulate evolutionary processes in proteins. It tests and applies the principles of evolution to determine what evolution can yield, what problems it can solve, and to determine what evolution can and cannot do. Using digital organisms, the program assesses protein fitness due to simulated gene mutation and based on similarities to Chinese characters. Will evolution prove capable of explaining life on earth? Listen as Dixon explains in more detail how Stylus can help us better understand and possibly answer that question.