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
Excited to share new #program, STEPS, which can simulate #dynamics of the E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment (#LTEE) or other microbes in serial transfer regime.

telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/s...

STEPS developed by @devinmlake.bsky.social, Zachary Matson, Minako Izutsu, and me.
STEPS To It
Announcing a new program, called STEPS, to simulate the dynamics of evolving microbial populations.
telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com
The Long-Term Evolution Experiment has returned home. Led by Professors Richard Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Jeffrey Barrick, this groundbreaking work continues to reveal how bacteria evolve in real time. 12 flasks. 1 legacy.

🔗https://tinyurl.com/f6vjyjvr

You get to count a 500-year experiment that just started?
On top of refusing to fully fund SNAP during the shutdown, the Trump regime has:

-Cut $1 billion from USDA programs supporting food banks
-Enacted tariffs that have caused food prices to rise
-Made the largest cut to SNAP in history
-Canceled the annual food security survey

Shameful.
Watching RFK jr run away from someone collapsing feels like a harbinger of things to come
RFK Jr's response to someone collapsing nearby him was to haul ass out of the room as quickly as possible
This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week.

@wired.com #ICE
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

Trifecta!!! Three superb dissertation seminars in one week:
⭐ Jasper Gomez on Friday, working with Chris Waters.
⭐ Devin Lake yesterday, with me.
⭐ Beth Ottosen today, with Vic DiRita.

@jasgomez.bsky.social
@devinmlake.bsky.social
@msumgi.bsky.social
@waterslab
Congratulations to MGI's newest Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Beth Ottosen!

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Congratulations to MGI's newest Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Beth Ottosen!
A damn daycare. This is sick. What are we doing?

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge…is the only guardian of true liberty." James Madison (APS 1785)

Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom. https://www.amphilsoc.org/tags/words-wisdom

#usefulknowledge #wordsofwisdom #learning #education

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Who is it?

Congratulations to DOCTOR Devin Lake, who successfully defended his Ph.D. and gave a splendid seminar this afternoon! His dissertation is titled: "Evolutionary Dynamics in Asexual Populations: The Interplay of Theory, Experiments, and Simulations." 

@devinmlake.bsky.social

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Trump just ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, a move that could reignite a dangerous global arms race.

He's also furloughed nearly all federal workers responsible for overseeing and safeguarding America's nuclear stockpile.

Hello?
SCOOP: The decorated rear admiral who was heading the critically important Office of Naval Research, and who brought lengthy experience in Navy tech-leadership to the job, "is being replaced by a 33-year-old former DOGE employee with no apparent naval experience."

www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...
SCOOP: Trump Swaps Decorated Admiral With 33-Year-Old DOGEr
The highly unorthodox personnel change affects a critical government research role.
www.thebulwark.com

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

New internship opportunity!

The American Philosophical Society and CSHL invite applications for a joint summer internship program for undergraduates working on junior or senior research projects related to the history of the life sciences.

More info here: apply.interfolio.com/174285

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

"human values and science cannot be separated" Baruch S. Blumberg (APS 1986)

Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

#usefulknowledge #wordsofwisdom #science

Thank goodness for hockey!
Not that either team looks good.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Your liberal media at work.

Not that either team looks good.

Lousy refs have cost MSU on 3 important plays this game against UM. Latest one is calling MSU offsides defensively when the blitz caused a fumble. Defender jumped early, but started behind the line and did not cross early. Other two blown calls were clear pass interferences not called against UM.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

“It was not wounds of battle that killed most of these men…
“The attrition of the army is extraordinary,” Dr. Harper said, “and underscores how much prior to the 20th century what we think of as wars are primarily medical events.”
The infections, he added, “are diseases that exploit human suffering”
DNA Identifies 2 Bacterial Killers That Stalked Napoleon’s Army
www.nytimes.com
Your regular reminder that we desperately need to overturn Citizens United and get big money out of politics.

It is among the worst Supreme Court decisions in history.

It corrupts our political system every day.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

If given the chance, I'd lose my legs all over again to serve in our great military.

The leader of your party is a five-time draft dodger who has fired more Veterans than any other president in our history.

Square that circle then tell me who really hates our military.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army." Edward Everett (APS 1831)

Since 1743, APS's mission has been "the cultivation of useful knowledge" Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

#usefulknowledge #wordsofwisdom
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis

Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today.

We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Reminder that any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message: they can't win on their ideas alone.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Imagine telling these men that morning in the landing craft that 80 years later their grandkids would be putting the swastika up in their offices in Congress

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

"We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal." Toni Morrison (APS 1994)

Check back weekly for APS Members' words of wisdom.

#usefulknowledge #wordsofwisdom