Scientific rigor is, of course, an absolute requirement for presenting experimental results.
Last March Russell Hill showed me a chapter that he had written together with Frank Robb about how the culturable state of bacteria might effect the way that they interact with viruses. He expressed interest in hearing Gunnar Bratbak's response to the speculative, even provocative views expressed in the chapter. With their approval, I have taken advantage of this wonderful opportunity to share a dialogue between two research collaborators with you. Briefly, I summarised some of the chapter and submitted it to both Frank and Russell for their approval. I then gave my summary to Gunnar for his comments.