long-term studies, evolution

Scientists work to unlock the genetic secrets of a population of fruit flies kept in total darkness for more than six decades.

By tweaking certain conditions of a long-running experiment on E. coli, scientists found that some bacteria could be prompted to express a mutant phenotype sooner, without the “generation of new genetic information.” The resulting debate—whether the data support evolutionary theory—is more about semantics than science.

Scientists show that bacteria continue to become more fit, even over tens of thousands of generations.