Today we kicked off our Work in Progress Seminars for the spring semester with an excellent talk by Dr. Zack D. Blount (@zdblount.bsky.social).

He led a terrific discussion about the morality of science and knowing when you should do something vs. knowing that you can.

As part of his class, MGI 991 - Intro to Science, Asst. Prof. Zachary Blount (@zdblount.bsky.social) gives out homemade gifts to his students: Anti-critic shields and hypothesis-killing swords (foam, of course). They are a rite of passage for their experiences in the Practice of Science module.

Why are coral reefs bleaching, and what can we do to stop it?

Sarah VanDiepenbos ( @sarahscientist.bsky.social ) is an MGI doctoral student working in Rob Quinn's lab, and she's trying to answer that question.

Some bacteria can't be grown in a lab. So how do we study it?

MGI Asst Prof Nina Wale @ninawale.bsky.social and her team have found a way using a new flow cytometry technique involving light signatures instead of labels. This could change how we understand microbial life.

Published in @mSphereJ.

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

Our lab is hiring!!
We are looking for a research assistant who will be involved with our experimental evolution studies on how stress affects population dynamics in E. coli.
Great opportunity for recent grads!
E-mail for more info and apply here:
ecsr.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Today, Dr. Zack Blount kicked off this semester's Works in Progress Seminar series with a talk about Jacques Monod entitled "The Paragon - Jacques Monod as Scientist, Hero, and Philosopher."

Join us each Mon., 12 - 1 pm in 1425 BPS to hear our grad students discuss their work.

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.

If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today?

MGI's Rich Lenski (@relenski.bsky.social) and Zack Blount (@zdblount.bsky.social) weigh in via this @vox.com podcast 12 tiny worlds:

megaphone.link/VMP6403302711