The group then did some experiments to prove the third point.

ECONOMIST: Evolution

If future experiments prove that such genes are essential to the bacterium's happy existence in the gut, then small molecules might be administered to block this pathway and make El Tor's life rather more difficult.

ECONOMIST: The cholera genome

If they prove a success, these experiments could spur the invention of a host of new designer materials.

ECONOMIST: A new way to build complicated materials, micron by micron