One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
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Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#2Not the longest, but my favorite long-running experiment is the E. coli LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex...
EDIT: I just realized that the LTEE and Beal’s experiment are being conducted at the same place, Michigan State University!
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#3Please don't link to pay-walled articles.
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#4Not the longest, but my favorite long-running experiment is the E. coli LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex... EDIT: I just realized that the LTEE and Beal’s experiment are being conducted at the same place, Michigan State University!
That is a very cool experiment and a fantastic read!
It reminds me of my own adventures making yogurt, each generation carried forward to the next batch. Being able to freeze the samples (for the ecoli, not the yogurt!) is really neat. At anytime they rewind the clock to test an ancestor.
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#5Not the longest, but my favorite long-running experiment is the E. coli LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex... EDIT: I just realized that the LTEE and Beal’s experiment are being conducted at the same place, Michigan State University!
That is a very cool experiment and a fantastic read! It reminds me of my own adventures making yogurt, each generation carried forward to the next batch. Being able to freeze the samples (for the ecoli, not the yogurt!) is really neat. At anytime they rewind the clock to test an ancestor.
Or, as Stephen Jay Gould said, replaying life’s tape.
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#6Not the longest, but my favorite long-running experiment is the E. coli LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex... EDIT: I just realized that the LTEE and Beal’s experiment are being conducted at the same place, Michigan State University!
A pitch drop experiment started in 1927 is what I thought of when I read the title:
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#7Question: Do these seeds have any biological or biochemical activity while dormant or are they completely inert for all that time?
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#8Not the longest, but my favorite long-running experiment is the E. coli LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex... EDIT: I just realized that the LTEE and Beal’s experiment are being conducted at the same place, Michigan State University!
It's amazing how such long experiments are organized. My first thought when I read "longest-running experiment" was the Rothamstead Park Grass Experiment.
I'm accustomed to thinking of Big Science as the LHCs and the Human Genome Project and the Human Brain Projects of the world, but there might be a category of experiments that are instances of Long-Term Science.
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#9Question: Do these seeds have any biological or biochemical activity while dormant or are they completely inert for all that time?
They have very reduced biological activity, but they are not inert. Seeds can respond to water, temperature, light, day length, chemicals produced by fire and smoke, and to different plant hormones among other things.
Re: One of the World’s Longest-Running Experiments Sends Up Sprouts
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a very cool experiment and a fantastic read! It reminds me of my own adventures making yogurt, each generation carried forward to the next batch. Being able to freeze the samples (for the ecoli, not the yogurt!) is really neat. At anytime they rewind the clock to test an ancestor.
Or, as Stephen Jay Gould said, replaying life’s tape.
The Wikipedia rabbit hole did lead to me Stephen Jay Gould too, who I wasn't acquainted with (except for possibility a similar Wikipedia rabbit hole a decade prior whenever I first read about the experiment).
Having recently read about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergodicity_economics, the parallels with the things Stephen Jay Gould argued about are fascinating.