At Michigan State University, some discoveries take decades — even centuries — to unfold. The university’s roster of long-term projects and experiments range from buried seeds that have sprouted nearly a century and a half later to a decades-old twin registry that is helping researchers make new discoveries about health and psychology. Spartan researchers are committed to examining a wide range of topics that help us better understand the world.
Learn about a few of the projects and experiments that span years, decades and even centuries.
Seeds sprouting, 146 years and counting
It started with a simple question: How long can seeds stay alive underground?
In 1879, botany professor William Beal buried 20 glass bottles filled with sand and seeds from a variety of weed species on MSU’s campus. The goal of the experiment was to understand seed longevity in the soil — a topic of general importance in ecology, restoration, conservation and agriculture — by digging up one bottle every 20 years to test whether the seeds would still germinate. And 146 years later, MSU is still learning from the experiment.
In 2023, more than two years after the 16th bottle of seeds was excavated from a secret location, molecular genetic testing confirmed a hybrid plant was accidentally included among the seeds in the bottle — a discovery that would have surprised and amazed Beal because the structure of DNA was unknown at the time.
At the beginning of the experiment, Beal hoped to help farmers eliminate weeds by determining how long their seeds would remain viable. After 144 years, some seeds were still germinating. The experiment is slated to end in 2100, meaning Spartans yet to be born will carry out Beal’s vision.
Watching evolution unfold in bacteria
When Rich Lenski, a Hannah Distinguished Professor at MSU, started growing 12 populations of E. coli in 1988, he couldn’t have predicted how far, or how long, the experiment would go.
Now known as the Long-Term Evolution Experiment, the project has surpassed 80,000 generations. Each day, scientists transfer the bacteria into fresh nutrient broth, freezing samples to create a living record of evolution in motion.
The experiment was taken over by Jeff Barrick at the University of Texas at Austin in 2022, where the work continued. Barrick, who worked with Lenski, returned to MSU in 2025 as a Hannah Distinguished Professor, bringing the experiment back to where it began.
Over nearly four decades, the experiment has revealed how random mutations can give rise to beneficial traits, how genetic diversity shapes populations and how evolution sometimes repeats itself in predictable ways.
Projecting how crops will survive in the future
Since 1989, researchers at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station have been digging deep into the science of sustainable agriculture.
As part of the Long-Term Ecological Research program, which is part of a national network of long-term research sites established by the National Science Foundation, multiple long-term projects are exploring how farming methods affect the environment and the food supply.
At the heart of this work is the Main Cropping System Experiment — KBS LTER’s signature experiment. Beginning in 1989, the experiment addresses the impact of cropping system management on the delivery of ecosystem services. It compares a variety of farming methods — no-till fields, varying uses or omittance of herbicides or compost, cover crops and more. With more than 40 study fields and decades of data, the experiment provides insights that are shaping practices that could transform agriculture in the Midwest and beyond.
Taking Michigan’s pulse
Started in 1994 at MSU, the State of the State Survey by the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research surveys Michigan residents several times a year, tracking changes in public opinion, trust in government, economic sentiment and other social indicators over decades.
The institute conducts two to four State of the State Surveys each year, reaching thousands of Michiganders via phone and online questionaries each time. The survey results are made public and serve as an ongoing resource that allows policymakers, MSU faculty and survey sponsors to tap into the perceptions of Michigan residents.
Growing healthier forests
MSU’s Forestry Innovation Center is a 1,745-acre AgBioResearch center in Escanaba, located in the Upper Peninsula along Lake Michigan. Established in 1986, the center is home to some of MSU’s longest-running field experiments.
Currently, a 28-year white pine trial is exploring how tree spacing and fungal diseases affect growth and resilience. Since the trial’s beginnings in 1997, Forestry Innovation Center scientists have tested various planting densities to determine optimal management strategies for timber production and ecological health, specifically, the control of a native insect pest.
Researchers at the forestry center are also three years into a planned 300-year project studying how changes in white oak trees will impact the American whiskey industry. Researchers are collecting acorns from every U.S. county where the species grows. As climate change shifts the range of oak forests, the team is studying how these trees adapt — and whether their wood chemistry will continue to impart the flavors that define American whiskey.
Studying health and psychology with twins
After beginning in 2001, the MSU Twin Registry has grown to include more than 35,000 twins, as well as their family members. According to the registry’s website, “Twins provide a valuable source of information for health and psychological research, as their unique relationship allows researchers to pull apart and examine genetic and environmental influences. Twin study findings have been influential in detecting and treating various diseases and psychological disorders.”
Led by Alex Burt and Kelly Klump in the Department of Psychology, the studies conducted with the registry span a range of topics. One recent study, for example, focused on illuminating the relationship between brain activity, genes and the environment in late adolescent and early adult twins. Another examined the influence of hormonal, genetic and environmental factors on psychological characteristics such as mood, eating attitudes and behaviors and personality during puberty in identical and fraternal female twins.
By following twins over time, researchers can separate genetic effects from family, hormonal and other environmental influences, and determine how they interact with one another — information that is critical for improving public health and psychological care.
Analyzing cosmic events
The Modular Neutron Array, or MoNA, is a large-area neutron detector array used in collaborative nuclear physics experiments led by MSU that has been running for over two decades. Scientists and students from institutions across the country, with the majority being primarily undergraduate institutions, are part of the MoNA Collaboration that studies the structure of neutron-rich atomic nuclei — the rare, unstable forms of matter created in extreme cosmic events like exploding stars.
At the heart of the project is a custom-built detector system at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB. The system was designed and assembled with help from graduate and undergraduate students at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, FRIB’s predecessor. Since 2003, these students have gained hands-on experience collecting and analyzing data that help researchers answer fundamental questions about how the elements of the universe were formed.
Across disciplines, Spartans are studying patterns that can only be seen through decades of careful observation and collaboration. Their work is helping protect natural resources, improve health and well-being, inform public policy and understand the forces that shape life on Earth and beyond. By investing in research that spans years and sometimes generations, they ensure discovery will continue long after they are gone and that a new wave of scientists will be there to carry the work forward.
Read more about how research at MSU is making real-world impacts.
