Richard Lenski
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relenski.bsky.social
Richard Lenski
@relenski.bsky.social

Evolving better E. coli for 75,000 generations. Prof at MSU, but opinions my own. (Ok, I also speak for billions -- er, TRILLIONS -- of E. coli.)
Website for LTEE: the-ltee.org
Banner pic from NYC, shared by Darwin. (The microbiologist, not the other one.) .. more

Richard E. Lenski is an American evolutionary biologist who is the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a MacArthur Fellow. Lenski is best known for his still ongoing 37-year-old long-term E. coli evolution experiment, which has been instrumental in understanding the core processes of evolution, including mutation rates, clonal interference, antibiotic resistance, the evolution of novel traits, and speciation. He is also well known for his pioneering work in studying evolution digitally using self-replicating organisms called Avida. .. more

Biology 54%
Sociology 10%
Pinned
I was just informed that you can receive a 20% discount using the code AMCLF20 at the publisher's website.
New book "A Primer for Experimental Evolution" with coauthors Michael Rose, Margarida Matos, and Joe Graves.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...

A compact primer for students and colleagues interested in planning and designing experiments to address questions in evolutionary biology.
A Primer for Experimental Evolution
www.worldscientific.com

The Adami book is much deeper, broader, and philosophical than that sort of thing. I agree, libraries are a great source of books!

Here's a link to @chrisadami.bsky.social 's book, which I highly recommend:
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Are We Missing a Hidden Death Toll From Covid-19?

How would we know?

medium.com/@michael.fuh...
Are We Missing a Hidden Death Toll From Covid-19?
How would we know?
medium.com

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Somebody should tell these Republicans that it'll take more than 42 days to distance themselves from a man they spend 10 years embracing.

Just wait until the AI agent signs you up for 173 subscriptions you didn't want. 😰
“.. the most useful A.I. app I had ever used. .. I connected my credit cards to Muse and .. it spun up .. rows of data each in minutes, then flagged two duplicate subscriptions, which it canceled for me.”

@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/t...

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

“.. the most useful A.I. app I had ever used. .. I connected my credit cards to Muse and .. it spun up .. rows of data each in minutes, then flagged two duplicate subscriptions, which it canceled for me.”

@nytimes.com #$META
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/t...

Thanks! Had to refresh my memory of this from Darwin:

"About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours."
To Henry Fawcett   18 September [1861] | Darwin Correspondence Project
darwinproject.ac.uk

I think the ideas in this paper are very interesting and important when contemplating the future of #biology, especially cell and #molecular biology. Will there be grand new #theories? Or is it a giant hair ball of #chaos and #contingency?

"Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences"
elifesciences.org/articles/112...

@zdblount.bsky.social shared this thought-provoking paper with the lab group.
Philosophy of Biology: The power of theory in the life sciences
Theory can help address cell and molecular biology’s major challenges, particularly those arising from large omics datasets.
elifesciences.org

And they are "not anticipating that every piece of research equipment needs to be shut down and unplugged." So maybe every other one? Or maybe another unanticipated surprise?

But at least we were "encouraged"!

As a precaution, research personnel are encouraged to identify any unprotected sensitive equipment and safely power it down and unplug it before midnight tonight. We are not anticipating that every piece of research equipment needs to be shut down and unplugged.
[Crazy lack of detail!]

• Power Plant personnel are working to restore normal service to MSU campus. Between midnight tonight & ~3:00 a.m. tomorrow, there is a potential power quality event or temporary service interruption that could affect equipment not protected by surge suppressor or uninterruptible power supply.

#MSU labs. If you haven't seen it, new warning from IPF about possible power surge sometime between midnight and 3 am. Unplug sensitive equipment if not on surge protector! I'll copy email below.