Medical implications of functional and destructive cellular motions: Curiosity-driven open issues

Issues relating to the protoribosome, namely the origin of the universal machinery for genetic code translation, and structural flexibility of the current ribosomes, are analyzed and discussed in view of the creation of pathogen-specific antibiotics. In addition we are relating to ribosomopathies, namely diseases associated with genetic mutations of ribosomal components. Open questions are highlighted. Among them-are the genetic mutations expressed, thus dysregulating the ribosomal function, or leading to a smaller number of functioning ribosomes? What are the bases of the tissue-specificity ribosomopathies? How do the small alterations cause significant medical problems? Albert Einstein alleged "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious, " and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi added: "Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different. " These Nobel Prize laureates were right. Curiosity has long been the driving force of the biological and biomedical sciences, and curiosity-driven research has contributed significantly to our understanding of both simple and complex life processes. Consequently, sophisticated lessons originated from seemingly simple questions, pushed by the natural and insatiable human thirst for knowledge. In fact, curiosity yielded huge dividends in both the short and the long run: we wouldn't enjoy the benefits of the GPS (or Global Positioning System), if not for the very theory of relativity Einstein proposed, to name an example. Indeed, in research, as a fundamental human impulse, curiosity is a never-ending source of new, head-scratching questions. Thus, several basic issues, some of which with medical implications, are still puzzling us.