Exploring the origins of a glacial relict seal

Exploring the origins of a glacial relict seal

Author: PNAS August 4, 2025 Duration: 10:39

The postglacial history of the Saimaa ringed seal

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Jaakko Pohjoismäki, Jukka Jernvall, and Ari Löytynoja discuss the evolutionary history of the Saimaa ringed seal.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:06] Molecular biologist Jaakko Pohjoismäki introduces Lake Saimaa and the Saimaa ringed seal.
•[02:30] Zoologist Jukka Jernvall talks about the characteristics of species isolated by glaciation.
•[03:27] Evolutionary biologist and bioinformatician Ari Löytynoja explains the genetic and demographic methods of the study.
•[04:11] Löytynoja and Jernvall explain why the results were surprising and where the study turned next.
•[06:20] Pohjoismäki and Löytynoja describe the study's implications for biodiversity in postglacial habitats.
•[07:50] Jernvall and Löytynoja talk about the study's caveats and limitations.
•[10:14] Conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Jaakko Pohjoismäki
Professor
University of Eastern Finland

Jukka Jernvall
Professor
University of Helsinki

Ari Löytynoja
University Lecturer
University of Helsinki

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2503368122

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Tune into PNAS Science Sessions for a direct line to the people shaping modern science. Produced by PNAS, this podcast offers more than just summaries of published research; it’s where you hear the candid, often personal stories behind the headlines. Each episode features concise conversations with the researchers themselves-from emerging voices to established Academy members-alongside the policymakers whose decisions are informed by this work. You’ll get a genuine sense of the questions that drive these experts, the unexpected hurdles they face in their labs and field studies, and why their findings matter right now. The scope is deliberately wide, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of science itself, covering discoveries that range from microscopic processes to planetary-scale phenomena. This isn't about dry lectures, but about capturing the human endeavor of investigation. For anyone curious about how science actually unfolds and wants to understand the context of breakthroughs as they happen, this podcast serves as an essential, engaging resource. It connects the dots between a published paper in a prestigious journal and the real-world implications that ripple out from it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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