Richard E. Lenski | Lightnews

Richard Lenski

@relenski.bsky.social

5.7K followers 850 following 390 posts

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

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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%

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Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · Aug 12

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

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 3d

U.S. military spending is set to hit a record $1 trillion.

Roughly half of defense spending goes to private contractors that routinely price-gouge the government.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has failed EIGHT straight audits.

This is the military industrial complex on steroids.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 3d

Billionaire control of the media is a danger to us all.

Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 6d

Handouts (and tax cuts) for billionaires + dismantling of public health by anti-vax nuts should be the top issues for just about anyone running for office in 2026 and 2028.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 6d

The next time you hear conservatives railing against "handouts for the poor," remind them that we should really be cutting corporate welfare — unnecessary and unwarranted aid for profitable corporations that are dependent on the taxpayer.

Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 7d

"The changing roles of Escherichia coli" -- a short essay by yours truly.

rdcu.be/eVtXT

The changing roles of Escherichia coli

Nature Microbiology - Richard Lenski traces the legacy of Escherichia coli and how science is evolving to use this model organism in new ways.

rdcu.be

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Tomasz Mickiewicz, Els Torreele

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7d

WSJ: The Trump family’s ventures since re-election “generated at least $4 billion in proceeds and paper wealth for the family as of December, according to company statements and securities filings.”

@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/politics/tru...

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Mary Feeney, Esther K. Choo , and 4 more Richard E. Lenski, Mary Feeney, Esther K. Choo, Daniel W. Drezner, Robert Wolfe, Erin O’Donnell, Timothy D. McBride

Liz Szabo @lizszabo.bsky.social · 8d

CDC awards $1.6 million for new hepatitis B vaccine study in Guinea-Bissau. Although the award recipients aren't named, the grant seems tailored to Danish researchers whose work is championed by anti-vaxxers but challenged by mainstream scientists.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study, likely to controversial Danish researchers

www.cidrap.umn.edu

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Timothy D. McBride

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 8d

Notice that the parts of Trump's economic program that help working and middle class Americans — DOGE checks, tariff rebates, and warrior dividends — are popular, progressive, and non-existent. Tax cuts for the rich are unpopular, regressive and very very real.

Richard Lenski @relenski.bsky.social · 8d

So is tomorrow's inflation report going to be worse than expected? Is that why Trump decided to "address" (harass) the nation?

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 8d

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Jacob Montgomery, Aaron Sojourner

Connor Ewing @cmewing.bsky.social · 8d

Simpler times

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

ginalolajupiter.bsky.social @ginalolajupiter.bsky.social · 8d

MAY I REMIND ALL:

Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 8d

The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story.

Holy. Shit.

www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...

Were there moments that you missed? Anything that happened that’s on the cutting room floor?
I don’t think there’s anything I missed that I wish I’d gotten. I’ll give you a little anecdote: Stephen Miller was perhaps the most concerned about the portrait session. He asked me, “Should I smile or not smile?” and I said, “How would you want to be portrayed?” We agreed that we would do a bit of both. And then when we were finished, he comes up to me to shake my hand and say goodbye. And he says to me, “You know, you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to people.” And I looked at him and I said, “You know, you do, too.”

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 8d

“A-plus plus plus plus”.

#NFP

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @joshuaeakle.com · 9d

MAGA absolutely HATES George W Bush for starting a foreign war to protect American oil interests.

But MAGA loves Donald J Trump for... *checks notes*... starting a foreign war to protect American oil interests.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Mr. Spock 🖖 @spockresists.bsky.social · 9d

I do not understand these Republicans and conservatives that say they are shocked by what Trump did about Rob Reiner.

WTF!

He has been like this since day one.

He had said despicable words since day one.

There is not one liberal that is shocked by his disgusting behavior.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Joshua S. Weitz, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 6 more Richard E. Lenski, Joshua S. Weitz, Rosemary A. Joyce, Joseph Schafer, Juan Cole, Smith, Richard Larouche, Alfie Kohn, Mark Rice

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 9d

The media needs to stop writing headlines like “The CDC changes course on vaccines and autism” and “The CDC defends measles response”.

NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.

ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.

Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Leigh Sparks, Diane Ravitch , and 1 more Richard E. Lenski, Leigh Sparks, Diane Ravitch, Gerald Friedman

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 9d

Read this. Then read it again.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Jesse M. Shapiro, Richard Shaw , and 3 more Richard E. Lenski, Jesse M. Shapiro, Richard Shaw, David R. Miller, Rense Corten, Hisham Zerriffi

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 9d

I've spent all day struggling to write a single page of a popular science article. I bang away at a word processor; give up; start diagramming on paper. Take some notes; draft a few sentences in pen; return to the computer...and very slowly I figure out what I was trying to say in the first place.

Josh Goldstein @joshisimmigration.bsky.social · 10d

One of the biggest moments of my career:
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Michael D. McDonald

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 10d

“.. The US economy is in a hiring recession. Almost no jobs have been added since April.

“Wage gains are slowing.

“710,000 more people are unemployed now versus November 2024.”

@byheatherlong.bsky.social

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, David Brady, Carl T. Bergstrom , and 5 more Richard E. Lenski, David Brady, Carl T. Bergstrom, Gavin A. Schmidt, Joshua S. Weitz, Alan Richardson, Richard M. Carpiano, Jesse R. Lasky

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 10d

We gave Jay Bhattacharya an opportunity to clarify his vaccine stance: does he REALLY believe that the vaccine is worse than the disease? Instead, he launched into a defense of MAHA as the future of scientific inquiry, and never really gave us a straight answer...

@repauchincloss.bsky.social

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Betty C. Jung @bettycjung.bsky.social · 10d

Google ads funnel Mac users to poisoned AI chats that spread the AMOS infostealer www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...

Google ads funnel Mac users to poisoned AI chats that spread the AMOS infostealer

Criminals make malicious ChatGPT and Grok conversations appear at the top of common searches—leading users straight to the Atomic macOS Stealer.

www.malwarebytes.com

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

MSU MGI @msumgi.bsky.social · 10d

Congratulations to our graduates! We are so proud of you and can't wait to see the great things you will accomplish!

Dr. Megan Korne gets hooded by Dr. Greg Bonito.

Dr. Charles Whitehead-Tillery shakes Pres. Guskiewicz's hand while his advisor, Dr. Linda Mansfield, looks on, smiling.

Dr. Alex Wessel and Dr. Jasper Gomez stand with their advisor, Dr. Chris Waters.

Dr. Beth Ottosen smiles after getting hooded by her advisor, Dr. Vic DiRita.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Kimberly A. Prather, Shadd Maruna , and 8 more Richard E. Lenski, Kimberly A. Prather, Shadd Maruna, Kelly R. Zamudio, Evelyne de Leeuw, Sanford F. Schram, W. Andy Knight, Gerald Friedman, Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Daryl Adair, José Antonio Noguera

Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 10d

Still in a state of shock trying to process the tragic loss of one of the most gifted men in the entertainment industry & his wife when the Embarrassment-in-Chief disgraces common human decency with this repulsive, deranged statement.

#NoWords 🤮

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 12d

Thinking of all the colleagues and friends I have who are connected to Brown University. What a devastating day for Brown, and for all of us.

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, Trevon D. Logan, Caroline T. Schroeder , and 2 more Richard E. Lenski, Trevon D. Logan, Caroline T. Schroeder, Kevin Grant, Timothy D. McBride

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 12d

Brown University says there's an active shooter on campus. Emergency scanner says multiple victims, but unclear how many.

Video footage viewed by the Brown Daily Herald "depicted several individuals lying on the ground near the Sciences Library appearing to be assisted by police."

Active shooter on campus, Department of Public Safety reports

The alert and call was sent to students immediately by DPS following the incident, urging students to hide, run or evacuate until further notice. 

www.browndailyherald.com

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 12d

The assault on vaccines gets real.

Children's Health Defense, founded by Kennedy filed a citizen's petition asking Marty Makary to deem Moderna & Pfizer COVID vaccines "misbranded" & revoke their licenses "due to a lack of compliance with FDA regulations."

#SacktheQuack
🧪 archive.today/3CSVr