Robert Lanfear Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Research School of Biology Australian National University Location: Carslaw 173 Time: 2pm Friday, September 16, 2011 Measuring mutants: statistical and mathematical challenges in understanding molecular evolution, and how to solve some of them Abstract: Understanding molecular evolution is both interesting in its own right, and also central to how we use and interpret the information contained in DNA sequences. It is also fraught with statistical and mathematical challenges. In this talk I will discuss a number of recent attempts to overcome some of these challenges, and describe how each new solution changed how we understand the information in DNA sequences. These challenges include how we account for variation in evolutionary processes at different sites of DNA sequences, how we can statistically compare patterns of molecular evolution in different lineages, and how we can use comparative methods to understand the causes and consequences of molecular evolution.