Small Things Considered

Talmudic Question #182

Difficult as it may be to predict which agent will cause the next pandemic, which *single* measure would you recommend should be taken now to mitigate its future effects? Read more →

Talmudic Question #181

Some authors have written describing single cells as "cog­ni­tive" or "agents with agen­das." Cog­ni­tion may not be far from con­scious­ness… . In what­ever sense you choose, could you ar­gue that bac­te­ria have con­scious­ness? Read more →

Talmudic Question #180

Why didn’t mitochondria keep a DnaA-dependent origin of replication? Read more →

Talmudic Question #179

There is talk that Vibrio natrigens may supplant Escherichia coli as the model system for many bacterial studies. Do you think that the day of such model systems may have passed and, if so why? Read more →

Talmudic Question #178

Many environmental bacteria appear to be ob­li­gate oli­go­trophs, that is they can only be cul­ti­va­ted on media con­tain­ing very low nu­trient con­cen­tra­tions. There are pro­bab­ly many rea­sons for this.  Which one do you favor and why? Read more →

Talmudic Question #177

A twist on Schrödinger’s Cat… In­stead of ra­dio­iso­tope, a Gei­ger coun­ter, a poi­son and a cat, in­side a sealed box with a light and kept at am­bient tem­pe­ra­ture and at­mo­sphe­ric pres­sure, you place a Wi­no­grad­sky co­lumn and a sealed vial... Read more →

Talmudic Question #176

Currently, when a bacterial or archaeal genus or species has been well characterized but is yet-uncultured, it is given 'Candidatus' status. Should this practice be continued or is time to abolish it? Why? Read more →

Talmudic Question #175

by Morgan Feeney
Are there any bacterial species that simply never form biofilms/are genetically incapable of doing so? Read more →

Talmudic Question #174

Imagine that the great majority of the microbes on Earth could be cultivated on laboratory media. How do you suggest that, in practice, we handle their humongous number? Read more →

Talmudic Question #173

Can you envisage a Winogradsky column consisting of only Gram-negative bacteria (or just Gram-positives, for that matter)? Read more →