Bonnie Bassler Professions : Molecular Biologist Born : 1962 Browse All Authors Quotes From Bonnie Bassler My bacteria glow in the dark - no human being doesn't like that. Bonnie Bassler bacteria humans dark You think of yourselves as human beings, but I think of you as 99 percent bacterial. Bonnie Bassler motivation inspiration thinking I think being open-minded about what Nature is trying to tell you is the key to being creative and successful. Bonnie Bassler keys successful thinking [Bacteria] have an incredibly complicated chemical lexicon that ... allows bacteria to be multicellular. In the spirit of TED they're doing things together because it makes a difference. Bonnie Bassler differences motivation inspiration The goal of scientists is you hope that the thing you're working on is bigger than the thing you're pipetting into that tube at the moment. Bonnie Bassler scientist moments goal When antibiotics became industrially produced following World War II, our quality of life and our longevity improved enormously. No one thought bacteria were going to become resistant. Bonnie Bassler antibiotics quality war Bacteria mineralized the rocks; they deposited the iron. They made the geology we see. Bonnie Bassler bacteria iron rocks When antibiotics first came out, nobody could have imagined we'd have the resistance problem we face today. We didn't give bacteria credit for being able to change and adapt so fast. Bonnie Bassler face nobody change today You can find bacteria everywhere. They're invisible to us. I've never seen a bacterium, except under a microscope. They're so small, we don't see them, but they are everywhere. Bonnie Bassler small never see you It's incorrect to think of bacteria as these asocial, single cells. They are individual cells, but they act in communities, exactly the way people do. Bonnie Bassler think single people way We mostly don't get sick. Most often, bacteria are keeping us well. Bonnie Bassler us well get sick We've all been sick; we're all afraid of infection. I think the easiest application to help people understand what quorum sensing is and why it's important to study is to tell them that if we could make the bacteria either deaf or mute, we could create new antibiotics. Bonnie Bassler understand think sick people As a kid, I loved doing puzzles, solving riddles, and reading mystery books. I also loved animals and always had pets. Bonnie Bassler loved doing mystery reading It's a manic-depressive life. You run in here, you open your incubator, your experiment makes no sense, you think, 'I hate this job.' Then ten minutes later you think, 'Well, now, maybe I'll try this or I'll try that.' You do it because you know there will be an 'a-ha!' day. Bonnie Bassler day you hate life You live in intimate association with bacteria, and you couldn't survive without them. Bonnie Bassler survive live without you Think about multicellularity on this Earth. Every living thing originally came from bacteria. So, who do you think made up the rules for how to perform collective behaviors? It had to be the bacteria. Bonnie Bassler rules think you earth What's great about bacteria is you have a surprise every day waiting for you because they're so fast, they grow overnight. Bonnie Bassler day great you waiting The goal of scientists is you hope that the thing you're working on is bigger than the thing you're pipetting into that tube at that moment. Bonnie Bassler moment you goal hope All these bacteria that coat our skin and live in our intestines, they fend off bad bacteria. They protect us. And you can't even digest your food without the bacteria that are in your gut. They have enzymes and proteins that allow you to metabolize foods you eat. Bonnie Bassler skin live you food Most bacteria aren't bad. We breathe and eat and ingest gobs of bacteria every single moment of our lives. Our food is covered in bacteria. And you're breathing in bacteria all the time, and you mostly don't get sick. Bonnie Bassler moment you time food Similar Authors Joshua Lederberg molecular-biologist Joseph DeRisi molecular-biologist John Medina molecular-biologist John Cairns molecular-biologist James D. Watson molecular-biologist Shirley M. Tilghman molecular-biologist All Authors
