From natural history and marine life to reconstructing events from half a billion years ago, get to know Max, his research and his passion for sharing evolutionary biology beyond academia.
1️⃣ What first sparked your interest in evolutionary biology?
"As a teenager I loved books about natural history, from Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals to David Attenborough's Life on Earth. I was also a bit obsessed with the scuba films of Jacques Cousteau and for a long time wanted to be a marine biologist."
At university, studying zoology allowed Max to explore the diversity of the animal kingdom, just as molecular approaches were beginning to transform how scientists reconstructed the animal tree of life. 🧬
2️⃣ What are you researching today?
"My lab works on reconstructing the animal tree of life using molecular data and on a specific animal characteristic: the ciliated larvae found in many marine invertebrates."
Are these ciliated larvae an ancient invention inherited from an animal ancestor, or a good idea discovered independently by multiple animal groups?
For Max, the exciting part is using what we learn about relationships and characteristics to "travel back in time to reconstruct half a billion year old events in animal evolution."
By combining what we learn about the relationships between animals with their characteristics, Max's lab is helping uncover what animal life may have looked like deep in evolutionary history. 🔬🧬
3️⃣ You also wrote The Tree of Life. What inspired you to write for a broader audience?
"I have always enjoyed writing and, along with research papers, I have written quite a few review papers and digests that explain new science to a general audience of scientists."
"The book took that idea a lot further. I tried to write so it could be enjoyed and understood by any person with an interest in the evolution of life on Earth, with no background in science required." 📖🌳
4️⃣ What was the biggest challenge in turning evolutionary biology into a story for non-specialists?
"The hardest part was working out what to leave out. Not all the details of what we do day to day in the lab are needed to tell the broader story."
"The book needed, above all, to be interesting, not simply informative. It's intended not as a textbook but, hopefully, an entertaining read."
A good reminder that communicating science isn't only about explaining the facts. It's also about telling a story. 📖
5️⃣ Any advice for early-career researchers interested in science communication?
"I think the most important thing is to find a way of doing this that you enjoy. Writing short pieces on a blog, making videos, going out and talking to a general audience or a school."
Before tackling a book, Max wrote articles for The Conversation explaining the main results of recently published work from his lab.
"And these were read by far more people than read the original papers!" 📢🔬
More info on “The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle” here: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/max-telford/the-tree-of-life/9781399806398/