> traditional scarcity of equipment This sort of thing likely led to what one of my Russian professors was pretty proud of: That Soviet microbiologists with so

> traditional scarcity of equipment This sort of thing likely led to what one of my Russian professors was pretty proud of: That Soviet microbiologists with some bacteria, a pH meter, and some basic chemicals like sodium citrate could bang out publications, with some well-designed and elegant experiments. We Americans, on the other hand, would spend thousands of dollars on fancy machines, reagents, etc. and were less productive.