Media – The Long-Term Evolution Experiment https://the-ltee.org Observing bacterial evolution in action since 1988 Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:38:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://the-ltee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cropped-LTEE-Flask-Favicon-32x32.png Media – The Long-Term Evolution Experiment https://the-ltee.org 32 32 LTEE featured on Unexplainable podcast https://the-ltee.org/ltee-featured-on-unexplainable-podcast/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ltee-featured-on-unexplainable-podcast Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:38:51 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=1627 Byrd Pinkerton interviewed Rich Lenski and Zack Blount about the motivation for the long-term evolution experiment and how it has been used to study the predictability of evolution on the Unexplainable Podcast.

Episode: 12 Tiny Worlds

]]> LTEE on Big Picture Science https://the-ltee.org/ltee-on-big-picture-science/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ltee-on-big-picture-science Tue, 24 Oct 2023 02:20:11 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=1428 Read More »LTEE on Big Picture Science]]> I recently had a great time discussing the long-term evolution experiment and more with Molly Bentley in an interview for an episode of the podcast Big Picture Science that focused on the evolutionary origins of multicellular life. Are E. coli in the LTEE evolving into differentiated multicellular organisms like the Volvox shown here? Probably not, given there’s no obvious fitness advantage for doing so in their well-shaken flasks in which competition for simple chemical resources dominates. There are no predators to band together and defend against or complex nutrients that require cooperation and compartmentalization to break down.

Fortunately, you can also learn about the exciting ongoing MuLTEE (multicellular long-term evolution experiment with “snowflake” yeast) at Georgia Tech from Will Ratcliff in this episode. Here, an only slightly more complex environment (allowing cells to settle) has led to the evolution of nascent multicellular forms with interesting properties. You can also muse about the prospects for life (and multicellular life) in the universe with Joe Graves of North Carolina A&T who has used experimental evolution to examine bacterial resistance to metal nanoparticles.

Episode link: https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/going-multicellular

Photo Credit: Frank Fox (www.mikro-foto.de)

]]> Nature News Q&A on the LTEE Handoff https://the-ltee.org/nature-news-qa-on-the-ltee-handoff/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nature-news-qa-on-the-ltee-handoff Tue, 14 Jun 2022 14:11:11 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=1291 Richard Lenski and Jeffrey Barrick spoke to Ewen Callaway about the history of the Long-Term Evolution Experiment and its move from MSU to UT Austin.

Link to article: Legendary bacterial evolution experiment enters new era

]]> New Yorker: How Will the Coronavirus Evolve? https://the-ltee.org/new-yorker-how-will-the-coronavirus-evolve/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-yorker-how-will-the-coronavirus-evolve Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0000 http://18.190.107.29/wordpress/?p=86 Read More »New Yorker: How Will the Coronavirus Evolve?]]> The LTEE is mentioned as background for understanding how microbes evolve in this article by Dhruv Khullar.

In 1988, Richard Lenski, a thirty-one-year-old biologist at UC Irvine, started an experiment. He divided a population of a common bacterium, E. coli, into twelve flasks. Each flask was kept at thirty-seven degrees Celsius, and contained an identical cocktail of water, glucose, and other nutrients. Each day, as the bacteria replicated, Lenski transferred several drops of each cocktail to a new flask, and every so often he stored samples away in a freezer. His goal was to understand the mechanics of evolution. How quickly, effectively, creatively, and consistently do microorganisms improve their reproductive fitness?

Read more here:

https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/how-will-the-coronavirus-evolve

]]> Veritasium: The Longest-Running Evolution Experiment https://the-ltee.org/veritasium/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=veritasium Wed, 16 Jun 2021 09:00:00 +0000 http://18.190.107.29/wordpress/?p=1 The LTEE is covered in an episode of Veritasium. Check out the video below!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4sLAQvEH-M&t=1s

]]> Through the Wormhole, with Morgan Freeman https://the-ltee.org/through-the-wormhole-with-morgan-freeman/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=through-the-wormhole-with-morgan-freeman Wed, 13 May 2015 23:52:00 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=493 Read More »Through the Wormhole, with Morgan Freeman]]> Tony Lund was the writer and director for “Through the Wormhole” when he and his team came to MSU to tell the story of the LTEE back in late 2014. A full-day of filming, and many days of preparation and editing, were boiled down to a fun-filled 6 minutes for this popular TV show. Cameos of Mike Wiser and Zack Blount in the lab, and Caroline Turner, Jay Bundy, and Zack in the poker game.

Through the Wormhole (Science Channel)
Season 6 Episode 3: Are we here for a reason?
Original Airdate May 13th, 2015
Link: https://www.youtube.com/show/SCVRl6Rj03lfF8v5nX7eJwyA?season=6

]]> Science: The Man Who Bottled Evolution https://the-ltee.org/science-the-man-who-bottled-evolution/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=science-the-man-who-bottled-evolution Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:00:00 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=487 Elizabeth Pennisi describes the LTEE at 25 years. She interviews some of the people whose contributions have helped the LTEE survive and flourish, while also reviewing the experiment’s history and some of its key findings.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.342.6160.790

]]> NPR: Experiments That Keep Going And Going And Going https://the-ltee.org/npr-experiments-that-keep-going-and-going-and-going/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=npr-experiments-that-keep-going-and-going-and-going Fri, 23 Nov 2012 09:00:00 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=454 The LTEE is pretty old, right? But it’s not even the oldest experiment at MSU, as NPR reporter Nell Greenfieldboyce explains.

Link: https://www.npr.org/2012/11/23/165030844/experiments-that-keep-going-and-going-and-going

]]> Discover Magazine: The Birth of the New, The Rewiring of the Old https://the-ltee.org/discover-magazine-the-birth-of-the-new-the-rewiring-of-the-old/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=discover-magazine-the-birth-of-the-new-the-rewiring-of-the-old Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=485 Read More »Discover Magazine: The Birth of the New, The Rewiring of the Old]]> Carl Zimmer describes the work by Zack Blount, Jeff Barrick, Carla Davidson, and me to identify the genetic underpinnings of the new ability to consume citrate that evolved in one of the LTEE populations. Zimmer explains how a dramatic evolutionary change that might, at first glance, seem like a singular event is actually more like a story in several chapters.

Link: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-birth-of-the-new-the-rewiring-of-the-old

]]> American Society for Microbiology: Evolution in a Flask https://the-ltee.org/american-society-for-microbiology-evolution-in-a-flask/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=american-society-for-microbiology-evolution-in-a-flask Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 https://the-ltee.org/?p=480 Microbiologist Stan Maloy interviews Richard Lenski about the LTEE and digital evolution, in front of the “Digital Orca” in Vancouver, BC.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQr8ldEeO04

]]>