Researchers at Rockefeller University have harnessed terabase-scale long-read sequencing technologies to unravel complex soil microbial genomes, which are largely uncultivable in laboratory settings. This pioneering methodology yielded hundreds of complete bacterial genomes and led to the discovery of two novel antibiotic candidates. This approach circumvents traditional cultivation barriers, offering a scalable path to unlock nature’s reservoir of bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential against drug-resistant infections.