One Astronomer's Noise

There is a great post on Pharyngula about a 20-year experiment on the evolution of E. coli. In that time span, colonies undergo tens of thousands of generations, which make it the perfect test bed for Darwinian evolution. (Although probably not the perfect thesis project!) PZ Myers does a great job of explaining the research in nearly-laymens terms, so check it out for yourself, lest I bungle the explanation. I know little of the field of evolutionary biology, so it is great to read about the discoveries as they are made, rather than the dry presentation of high school textbooks. The basis of the research is that not only did one of the colonies experience a very unlikely mutation that allowed it to thrive under stressed conditions, but they were able to retrace the mutations through the frozen samples of previous generations. The real breakthrough came in discovering that the genetic history of the population has a lot to do with producing the mutation that finally creates the advantage. And then, PZ goes on to skewer a creationist who gets it all wrong, like they do. Check it out!