Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe Listener Questions #35: Genetics (featuring Dr. Benjamin de Bivort)
Apr 9, 2026
Dr. Benjamin de Bivort, a Harvard professor studying genetics, evolution and behavior, joins to tackle how DNA relates to instinct. They explore what it means to “decode” a genome. Conversations range from protein folding and AlphaFold to fruit fly behavior experiments, telomeres and viral DNA, and why genes shape but do not fully determine behavior.
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Fruit Fly Lab Uses Genetic Lego To Probe Behavior
- Benjamin de Bivort studies variation in fruit fly behaviors like walking bias, temperature and odor preference, and learning.
- He leverages century-old fly genetic toolkits that let researchers manipulate individual neurons and genes like Lego pieces.
Fly Brain Has Many Repeating Visual Circuits
- The Drosophila brain contains ~150,000 head neurons and ~50–70,000 in the ventral cord; many optic-lobe circuits repeat across ~800 facets.
- De Bivort notes central-brain neurons are more targetable individually than repetitive visual units.
Individuality Emerges From Developmental Wiring Noise
- Genetically identical flies raised the same way still show behavioral individuality because development introduces small wiring and cell-type variation.
- De Bivort links variation to differences in neuron counts or connectivity (e.g., projection neurons sometimes vary in number between animals).