by Kim Lewis — The ma­jor­ity of bac­te­ria will not grow on nu­tri­ent medium in the lab. The ba­sic ex­per­i­ment is sim­ple: take a sam­ple from the en­vi­ron­ment, such as ma­rine sed­i­ment or soil, mix with wa­ter, vor­tex, al­low it to set­tle, di­lute su­per­natant and take two droplets. Plate one on a...