Crystal ball - 2009

[...]it could be a very useful tool in environmental microbiology, which deals with an enormous number and diversity of unknown populations, processes and habitats, many of which escape human scales, and almost all of which are not traceable in the past – if we would only know how to use the crystal ball. [...]neighbouring disciplines such as oceanography and the geosciences have already prepared for new scales of global earth observation to which environmental microbiology could be hooked in many advantageous ways. [...]powerful sequencing tools are now offering a more detailed snapshot of the extensive diversity in natural environments. Analysis of genome channelling will help the model of the cell-as-a-computer to develop further (Mingorance et al., 2004). [...]information is placed at the heart of all our scientific exploration.