What do bigfoot, elves, and... macroevolution have in common? Well it seems that they may all be completely mythological. At least according to the most famous ongoing experiment in evolution in the world.
The longest running experiment in evolution is currently being performed by Dr. Richard Lenski, a Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a MacArthur fellow, and (confusingly) a very popular man in evolutionary circles. He currently manages the longest running experiment in evolution, which has been going on for over 30 years at Michigan State University. The experiment reproduces E. coli bacteria over many generations, and is set up to observe macroevolution in action if it exists. Creationists are often hard on evolutionists for claiming evolutionary theory is scientific fact without actually observing it. Its ironic that evolutionists claim to believe in the science, but their own theory does has not even completed the required observation step of the scientific method. Although the evolutionists are operating in complete ignorance, at least in the case of the Lenski experiment, they are attempting to find real observable macroevolution.
As of 2020, the E. coli bacteria have reached an impressive 73,500 generations [1], in human terms this would be the equivalent of over 2 million years. To put this further in perspective, modern evolutionary theory claims that humans evolved on Earth a mere 300,000 years ago. [4] So the experiment should be able to observe all new kinds of life forms evolving in real time, because the E. coli have much shorter generations that other kinds of life on Earth. But strangely (or not really) there has been no macroevolution observed at all, in what is supposed to be the most famous experiment in evolution in the world. The bacteria have remained bacteria; exactly what the creation scientists have always claimed would happen. The Lenski experiment marks a complete and utter embarrassment for those whole hold evolution to be some kind of centralized theory in biology.
There have been some other interesting developments from this experiment, including a small amount of observed microevolution (in reality it is only designed adaptation), which creationists and evolutionists both agree it is a real phenomenon. Perhaps the most interesting development seen so far is the E. coli seemed to develop the ability to grow on citrate, and this sparked a lot of interest for those looking for any kind of evidence that might confirm Darwinism. However creation scientists were quick to point out that the information that allows the E. coli to utilize citrate as an energy source was already present in the DNA from the beginning, however it was turned off until environmental pressure triggered a built in mechanism in the DNA to reactivate the ability to grown on citrate. [2] [8]
Not only did Dr. Lenski not find a single trace of macroevolution, he did not even observe a single new adaptive mutation form throughout the entire experiment. [3] It seems strange that evolutionists are not more aware of how humiliated they really are by the results of there own experiment. Strangely the Lenski experiment is cited quite often by evolutionists, attempting to use it as evidence that macroevolution is real, even though no new adaptations were made using Darwin's proposed mechanisms. Theology may be the only avenue that could explain how the evolutionists can continue in such blatant ignorance, despite what the evidence is telling them.
In the second letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul explains that there are dark forces at work in the world, and they are able to blind people's minds to the truths of God and scripture. Is it possible that these same dark forces are at work in those who hold to evolution, because it attempts to undermine creation and original sin?
2 Corinthians 4:3-5 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
It seems that Dr. Lenski's mind is not completely veiled however. He is at least somewhat aware of the inability of his experiment to produce evidence in support of evolution. He seems to have given up on trying to produce macroevolution in the laboratory, and has begun to simulate macroevolution using digital organisms known as Avida. [5] Apparently these digital organisms are finally giving him the macroevolution he was looking for, in as little as 15,000 generations. Apparently these digital organisms know how to properly obey Darwin's biological "laws".
Although Dr. Lenski's experiment has shown to be impotent at creating evidence in favor of Darwinism, he seems more determined than ever to prove evolution... He has stated publicly that he still refuses to embrace creation science, and was upset that Ken Ham cited his failed experiment during his public debate with Bill Nye the "Science" Guy. Hopefully he will change his mind like many other prominent former evolutionists and embrace intelligent design, like Dr. Gunter Bechly and Yale's own professor Dr. David Gelernter.
References
1. Lenski, Richard E. (2020-03-09). "We Interrupt this Nasty Virus with Some Good News about Bacteria". Telliamed Revisited. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
2. Scott Whynot, BMSc, MSc (PT) and MD Candidateon, "Hijacking Good Science: Lenski’s Bacteria Support Creation." Answers in Depth. https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/mutations/hijacking-good-science-lenskis-bacteria-support-creation/
3. Holmes, Bob, Bacteria make major evolutionary shift in the lab, NewScientist.com news service, 09 June 2008.
4. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/essential-timeline-understanding-evolution-homo-sapiens-180976807/
5. Minnich, S., Paradigm of Design: the Bacterial Flagellum DVD, Focus on Origins series, 2003 :
According to biology professor Dr. Scott Minnich, the evolutionist researcher Dr Richard Lenski bred bacteria for more than 20,000 generations with all sorts of selective environments in the hope of getting a spontaneous increase in complexity—i.e. real evolution in the lab. He showed that they adapted to their environment, but the experiment failed to demonstrate the emergence of true novelty or spontaneous complexity. The bacteria were not only still bacteria, they were the same types of bacteria. So, says Minnich, he decided to work on digital organisms instead—computer simulations, which gave him the result he wanted in 15,000 generations. The lesson is clear: the real world of biology is very different from the carefully set up and manipulated world of electronic on-screen simulations.
6. https://biologos.org/articles/ham-on-nye-our-take
8. Van Hofwegen DJ, Hovde CJ, Minnich SA, Rapid Evolution of Citrate Utilization by Escherichia coli by Direct Selection Requires citT and dctA, J Bacteriology 198(7):1022–34; Feb. 1, 2016. doi: 10.1128/JB.00831-15.
Researchers at the University of Idaho ran an experiment on E. coli strains to see if they could ‘evolve’ aerobic citrate utilization as Lenski’s lab had finally achieved after 33,000 generations, which took 15 years. They showed that a mere 12 generations were needed to see the beginnings of citrate utilization and a mere 100 generations to see the refinement of it. Again, no new genes arose, only the duplication and rearrangement of existing genes, like what I described above. The authors concluded:
We conclude that the rarity of the LTEE [Lenski’s long-term evolution experiment] mutant was an artifact of the experimental conditions and not a unique evolutionary event. No new genetic information (novel gene function) evolved.