# Jerry Coyne on Reddit (u/Jerry_Coyne)

Part of Scientists on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/scientists-on-reddit/jerry-coyne

Jerry Coyne: Evolutionary biologist, author of Why Evolution Is True.

- Reddit account: [u/Jerry_Coyne](https://www.reddit.com/user/Jerry_Coyne/) (AMA only)
- How we know it's theirs: [The 2015 r/science AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/36v7vp/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/science (41)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2015 to 2015
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Coyne

## Moments

### u/Jerry_Coyne in r/science, May 22, 2015 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> Hi Dr. Coyne, What is one of the most amazing thing you know as a evolutionary biologist that normal people might not?

> When I look at a squirrel, for instance, I see it through the eyes of natural selection, and to me that makes the experience immensely richer. Think of all that morphology and behavior that has evolved: the teeth, the fur, the tendency to run around the other side of the tree when they see you, their remarkable agility. And all the fantastic metabolism and biochemistry going on inside! All that results from replicating molecules sorting themselves out, with the better-replicating ones being the ones that survive.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/36v7vp/comment/crhohez/ · 96 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/Jerry_Coyne in r/science, May 22, 2015 · Explains things

Replying to a redditor:

> I have a more technical question; At some point, one of our ancestors had two chromosomes fused, and the chimpanzees didn't. But didn't that render this ancestor genetically incompatible with the rest of his/her species? Or was the fused-chromosome ape, still able to reproduce…

> In fact, for chromosome fissions and fusions (the latter are more common, so I'll use that as an example), there's often no selective disadvantage to the new chromosome. When it's formed, it pairs up fine with its two-chromosome ancestor in the individual that experienced the fusion. If pairing is normal (as it often is, with each of the separated chromosomes lining up alongside the homologous arm of the fused chromosome), then meiosis--the formation of sperm and eggs--will proceed normally, and there will be no sterility. Given the vagaries of reproduction, the fused chromosome can come to be "fixed" (everyone has it) in a population, as it did in our ancestors.
>
> The evidence that there's often no reproductive disadvantage to many fusions (or fissions) comes from both direct observation as well as the fact that some populations, such as mice in northern Italy, show individuals with all kinds of fused or "fissed" chromosomes, and when you bring them into the lab their fertility is normal.

(Excerpt.)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/36v7vp/comment/crhk55y/ · 203 points as of Nov 7, 2026