Bonnie Bassler: The secret, social lives of bacteria

[ifewalter1]

Damn bacteria. The military certainly can learn from the co-ordinated attack(response) system

[captainclayman]

i wanna be a scientist now.

[tvnatinto]

it won't be long before they find proof that bacteria actually use host defenses to help their signaling. one of the other posters was right: we need to recognize them before they recognize us.

[xStiqs]

Great information but she really has to slow down her presentation.

[mickinorichan]

I just attended one of her talks about this at Princeton University. The talk was 50 minutes long, but it was incredible. Simply stunning...

[elitept]

God damn 'machine gun' speed speaking american speakers!

[captainclayman]

@elitept sounds pretty regular to me but then again i'm a fast talker too. just depends on how familiar you are with english.

[MyturBenisdurty]

thumbs up if your here for school and your teacher made you watch this..

[captainclayman]

@MyturBenisdurty you should be thankful your teacher made you watch this. this shit is cool!

[firehouse969]

Amazing Talk!

[clarizio]

Give her the Nobel, NOW

[andyrooney12]

Nerds these days are FINE...my sister works in a stem cell research lab @ USC & all the ladies there are FINE. This lady is hiding a nice body under that conservative dress...what makes her hotter is that she is smart. Ladies, a lot of men in the 21st century are not bumbling cliche Neanderthals from some stand-up comedian's bad act...you want to turn on a man of the 21st century? Say something smart.

[1000wrongdecisions]

Wonderful

[CD0828]

I hope she is one of my lecturers lol

[embiomania]

did you know that we are already working with such microbioloigcal consorzia since many years! checkout embio.it!

[ArizonaBob]

Great presentation! I really enjoyed the last part when she pointed out the demographic she works with at Princeton. It is clear she shares her knowledge, by actually spending time teaching. Commendable that she shares credit for the discoveries made by her group and that she takes time to communicate in and out of the group. No wonder she ( and they) knew what it was that they were looking at.

[csguy12]

great presentation!

[alphakristjan]

What a ridiculously hollow minded way to view humans.

[mrcuteblackie]

basic school biology. why so much explanation

[kaako86]

That was fantastic. What an amazing talk.

I had no idea and learned many new things about bacteria and how useful they are. Thank you for the upload. More TED talks is always a great thing.

[confedswede]

mindblowing

[craigman777]

that was cool

but i don't think she took a breath of oxygen for the entire talk.

[mellamosean]

@craigman777

Lies!!! I found her breath. 15:46 

[mellamosean]

@mellamosean

15:48*

[craigman777]

@mellamosean

you still can't prove she is human.

[Lockeyphage]

Bonnie is an amazing charismatic scientist. Making complex topics accessible to the play public!

[rougebaisers]

You are one of the few who will be responsible for saving the human race.

[killyourtvselfnofear]

i never knew God was all i needed, until God was all i had left

[baum7des7lebens7]

Trying to manipulate bacteria is risky, as nature is wiser than we think...All bacteria is important in the balance of birth and death. If we want to live and be fine, we have to live as intended for humans: fresh food (vegetables and fruits), only water as beverage, less stress, more training/playing, sufficient sleep, avoiding chemicals (cosmetics, detergents), NO pharmaceutical products if possible. That changes a lot. Knowing what is good is not enough. Do it. Stop destroying nature.

[reeka411]

@baum7des7lebens7

"as intended for humans" = naked?? eh?eh? sorry

[baum7des7lebens7]

@reeka411 Yes, our skin needs sunlight : )

[Kampex]

SQUID GOT SKILL

[naxatra87]

Superb, Marvelous, Fantastic, Outrageous, Mind blowing....& what ever adjectives one can think...Smooth explanation...Very Thankful to the Speaker And offcourse TED...May GOD Bless Them..!

[Rawx2010]

why shes not naked?

[magilojoh]

Professor Bassler is just brilliant!! She is also so humble; At the end she gave so much credit to her team, but she has initiated so much of these studies and her drive is what has kept this going!! Go Bonnie!!

[Scones67]

MILF

[perrywi2]

<3 prokaryotes

[kevinjay69]

DrD0000M, I think you have missed the point of the speech with your pointless comment. Yes, she is probably wrong when she stated 1 trillion. But estimates vary anywhere from 20-100 trillion, and there is no way to know precisely how many there are. Did you come across that in your vast google search??

[DrD0000M]

I didn't have to Google it to know it. It's fairly basic knowledge of biology. I would think a biologist, who is bothering to write a speech about biology, would know something so basic. The only people who have just 1 trillion cells are fetuses. This is like an astronomer saying there's a couple of "million" stars in the universe. And yes, I got the content of the speech, it's interesting, but still that's distracting.

[Pastatothepelican]

@DrD0000M I think the point of bringing up the bacteria on the body is to give background and provide context to what she's talking about

[timg455]

That does matter because if it is a much higher number how does that then compare to how much bacteria. It's kind of important to get the numbers right if your comparing them.

[marialaszlo]

Fantastic speech fantastic scientist.

[DrD0000M]

What the hell?! The human body has about 100 trillion cells not 1 trillion. Google it lady. The human brain alone is made of ~50-100 Billion neurons.

[DrD0000M]

Other than that, interesting speech.

[Burdell22000]

I would fvck all her bacteria up

[1RadicalOne]

This may well be the future of antibiotics...

[doloppost]

Wow! I understood everything she wanted to share! Great TED talk told with such sparkling enthousiasm :)

[lishun]

so THAT'S how commensals recognise each other! great stuff.

[boylebongo]

she should have bowed. I felt like bowing for her. truly awesome presentation. my mind has expanded. ty for that. :D

[flaaflaa]

Shes a perfect speaker! And I've never thought that anyone could speak about germs with such enthusiasm. ;p

[oliviamulgrew]

wow fabulous speaker and great discoverys thankyou for this interesting video ...i guess though like anything this could be used against as a biological weapon ,,or if the world powers decided to depopulate as intercellular comunication could be blocked in humans etc etc ...lets hope its used for good

[im2good4aname]

unfathomable complexity

[sentstuff05]

That is so cool.

[branboom]

Make the bacteria attack early by injecting a higher does of that signal chem so they get curb stomped by your immune system.

Now!

Wheres my Nobel.

[LiquidFriction]

@branboom You'd have to know it was in your system before hand to give such an injection prior to symptoms...therefore useless in majority of cases that antibiotics would normally be used.

[Shachihata8]

steeleman23, I'm referring to the possibility of longitudinal studies. As opposed to leaving ourselves open to serious repercussions down the road.

[dtolab]

سبحانك يا رب

[arheru]

Great speech!

[basteagui]

this video should be marked as a response to another video called: quantum consciousness (stuart hameroff)

[abram730]

There isn't much of a competing answer other then quantum interactions to explain how microbes can process up to 100,000,000 bit's per second with a nanobrain composed of proteins and a bundle of around 10,000 microtubules.

clearly microbes are the most intelligent organisms on earth, at least on a per gram weight basis.

Also we are moving closer to making neuralnets out of bacteria.

google

docid=-814489227555102815

[aces9876]

I think this can make anyone immune to deadly diseases, making them carriers.

[imkewlhaha]

Well, that was pretty cool, but I do have one big question about the one that blocks the "general signal" receptor. If every bacteria has this "general" receptor, and you block it, how did the mouse live? Like she said before, there are bacteria which are necessary for us to live, and if we employ this block to all bacteria, wouldn't it affect the good bacteria as well? I might be missing something, but the idea that all of our bacteria being rendered useless is kinda scary.

[darkstealthtt]

Current antibiotics do the exact same thing. When you take an antibiotic, you will get the runs simply because it destroys the bacteria in your entestines and elsewhere.

[bakadude]

You missed something.

She said blockage for "specific" bacteria or viruses.

[imkewlhaha]

Not really. She specified two types of blocking mechanisms - specific, and general. My question was directed toward the general blocker.

[Greig1424]

it was nice to see her class they are so young what an amazing bunch of intellectuals, great presentation very interesting

[musicsugar76]

Bonnie rocks! Just imagine what we could have accomplished, had our school/college professors been like her.

[ssips720]

ahhh her voice is killing me

[JCYK90]

hahahahaha

is it just me or does she speak like shes speaking to kindergarten children?

[bjan87]

Wow, what a wonderful presentation!

[1hutch0]

great insight :-)

[abyssquick]

this is a very important perspective on the human body.

[pike811]

What a treat! She speaks with such big words, yet amazingly I was able to digest it. Great TED talk! :)

[jamezmon]

amazing. truly amazing. SCIENCE IS COOL. anyone who says otherwise is a loser.

[ashtray45]

Brilliant! Efforts of people like you deserve the highest possible support! You are humanitys lymph nodes!

[TomFynn]

"Stealth squid"

Thats what i love about TED-Talks. You get to hear about all sorts of cool stuff you've never heard of before.

[sdrgnzhong]

that was a great video. fabulous job.

[kambi47]

Fascinating, but I can't help but notice the much larger issue here. If we consider the important role that bacteria play in life and evolution, then we need to seriously re-think the impact of devising ways to kill these natural population balancing mechanisms. While I believe the study of bacteria will lead to exciting discoveries, applying the science to medicine, which serves to protect our own massively disproportionate species, is probably contrary to the goals of bacteria.

[intrepgun]

yes, people need to realize that they are part of the cycle and cannot be freed from it without destroying the parts that sustain us.

[jiujitsuthug]

Amazing discussion

[KDIZ930]

but how do you know when the bacteria has entered the host before they "launch their attack"

and can they make these molecules specific enough not to interfere with good bacteria in your body.

[HempForPresident]

I have a similar concern, however, she seemed to be quite aware of the need to keep the good bacteria healthy...

[KDIZ930]

I'm thinking along the lines of people who have compromised immune systems due to organ transplants or similar events. I wish I could somehow take her research and gear it towards that.

[ReligiouslyAtheist]

Damn, I love a smart woman

[ph22pd]

I am not being arrogant but immediately after listening to her talk these questions rose in my mind. I am pretty sure that Dr Blasser would have thought about these. I would like to know your opinion. I am not a microbiologist.

[andid]

Because of your grammar and spelling I can't quite make out what your questions were, but every question we answer in science only gives us countless more questions. You just have to keep going down the endless rabbit hole.

[ph22pd]

Q1. The bacterial system, if can generate antibiotic resistance, why wont it develop resistance against the antagonistic quorom sensing molecules?...

Q2. The antagonist designed to disrupt quorum sensing only disrupts inter-bacterial communication. Unlike Kanamycin or penicillin, it does'nt kill them. SO they keep diving till their population bursts into levels were it anyway produces enough 'wastes' (metabolites) to hamper normal bodily functions ..aka ..kidney/ liver failures.

[fuunguus]

Q1: It can, by changing the type of receptors, but we can change the kind of molecules we are using against them. Bacterias seems to be very dependent on these receptor types, and removing it would never be an option.

Q2: I think these kinds of antibiotics should be used after the bacteria attack, as an counter attack. When the body knows where they are.

I speculate if it is possible to trick aids into thinking that it have the right number of bacterias to start attacking at an early stage.

[Leopoldo888]

AIDS = virus, not bacteria.

[cjerez01]

thank u for ur amazing input! i'm sure u're aware that there are two kinds of people. those who strive to improve things and those who suck their thumbs and do nothing. and may i ask, with all the wisdom u shared in ur comment, what are u doing to assist with this epidemic?

[Leopoldo888]

ehhhh, use condom?

[csqw]

@Leopoldo888 AIDS=syndrome, not virus...HIV=virus that contributes to the progression of AIDS.

[IcyNami]

Bonnie Bassler is fucking patronizing.

[Keeban3]

agreed

[xXAkridXx]

I think that's just her personality. I don't think she is talking down to anyone.

[TimTrimT]

Who cares? Does she know more than you on the topic or not? And most importantly did you learn anything?

Also, can't be easy talking for 20 minutes in front of a huge crowd of the biggest brains in the world. The woman has bigger balls than either you or I, give her a little credit.

[Shachihata8]

I wonder about perhaps learning about these systems extensively BEFORE messing with them for a change.

[xXAkridXx]

Agreed, I'd hate to see a renegade nano virus that eliminates all bacteria on contact and spreads like wild fire. I assume that's how the human race and life in general will ultimately end.

[TimTrimT]

You know what assume spells...  hahahaah

[theghostintheshell80]

That's why I try to never suppose, I'd hate to make a supp out of o and se.

[luckylittlefish]

but if they cant talk to eachother, then won't they keep replicating and replicating until the host explodes?

[blsfalcao]

antibiotics would still be used, but the bacteria would do no harm during the treatment

[polemarhos]

This is incredible. Imagine the possibilities!!!!

[022196978]

slow down talking!!!

[Varion]

listen faster retard

[rlh68]

They only get 20 minutes to present.

[blsfalcao]

According to her hypothesis, shouldn't the bacteria from the center light first than the bacteria from the border?

[blsfalcao]

by the way,this was definitely a top 5 TED talk of all time

[nytonks]

Once the signaling molecule reaches a threshold concentration, all the bacteria in the flask light up at the same time

[blsfalcao]

My point is that the bacteria in the middle would get more molecules than the ones in the border, so they should light first.

It''s not an important point, I just didn't understand the mechanism well.

[nytonks]

If they are growing in liquid - the concentration of the signaling molecule will be equal throughout the liquid - there is no middle or border, it is a homogeneous mixture.

[goboundefined]

Bestest Tedtalk.

[kchecker]

very interesting

[PsilocybinNinja]

This is probably one the most interesting videos on TedTalks. Very informative!

[sodiumpowered]

I wonder about another possible manipulation ... making the bad bacteria launch an attack before they have sufficient numbers (quorum, in the language of the presenter). Then they would not be able to overwhelm the host, and the host's immune system could step in and deal with it.

[steeleman23]

We didn't get to learn enough about how bacteria actually count these molecules to what exactly her treatment in mice does.

I imagine the bacteria have many sensors along their cell membrane and basically get a, Yes (there is a molecule in this sensor) or No (there is no molecule in this sensor) response from each sensor. Once it receives a threshold level of simultaneous Yes's, it activates a behavior. As opposed to somehow having a memory of how frequently is counts one of these molecules.

[steeleman23]

...continued, sorry. She did mention that her synthetic molecules somehow 'jam' the sensors on the cell, and I suspect would produce false positives. When enough of the synthetic molecules are jamed in the bacteria, it would activate it's virulent behavior before reaching that threshold number of bacteria to be harmful, provoke your immune system and be destroyed without much of a fuss.

Anyway, I'm off to find out...

[steeleman23]

Nah, I wasn't right at all. They used Cholera bacteria for their virulence test which actually turns off it's toxic behavior at high density, this way they tricked the bacteria into thinking there was more of them than there was, and they turned themselves off. Still an amazingly cool concept.

[fto2006]

I would expect the fake molecule they usd to jam the recptors by binding to them but without producing any response in the cell, in a competetiv inhibition manner. Thus the receptors would be occupied so that the real signal molecules couldn't bind but no response is produced

[mazdaplz]

this video helps explain another video called

"Quantum Consciousness (Stuart Hameroff)"

you should watch it, it's relevant because this cell communication theory can help explain neurons' ability of awareness

[megafu1]

huh .... woah! :)

[vavobravo]

It's all about behavioral modification....in public health, in politics, in micro or macro level...! even in psyche level.

[molewizard]

I love how they discovered this based on a false hypothesis.

The discovery is perfectly valid though.

: )

[dmlled]

amazing

[etnelav]

very cool and i will be interested to see if this goes mainstream.

[Pawsz]

pretendig im not lonley is the closest thing i have to not being lonely. its not crazy it surviving because lonliness wont kill you, it will just show u urself over and over- god is relief.

[PlayT0E]

It is nice to know that Bacteria have a language, and that we are beginning to learn a little about how this chemical language works.

Perhaps we will also learn about the chemical language our own cells use and see the similarities.

[PlayT0E]

There is no god.

[foodforchew]

keep god out of this its innappropriate to constantly be governed by this obsession with false hoods

[Missbookworm]

Definitely loved this. Glad I'm going into this field.

[lebasson]

knock 'em dead :)

[Stiffmeisteer]

Amazing.

[ghost2be]

What a fantastic scientist...

[weetbixiron]

There is no god

[EvelynGB]

HOw do you know?

[karawmak]

well done! great discovery Bonnie

[MozTS]

this is lies, Jesus says so

[3ammoSteve]

what the HELL?

[lebasson]

hahaha

[Chick6517]

I was having such a horrible day and after watching this video, it totally helped bringing up my spirits. Thanks for posting!

[usedforbattle]

shes so hot ^_^ my bacteria would love to communicate with hers!

[secube]

WOW this is huge prob a nobel price nomine

[princeofexcess]

how about giving humans pills that make bacteria think that there is always tons of them (the multi lingual one)

so when we get infected by few they attack us and organism recognizes them and can eliminate them

it just would require always taking pills...

[Huntafrai]

i like your style.

[JamesBoxall5632]

Brilliant stuff.

Thankyou TED.

[hirugaru]

she's like the gold standard for science teachers everywhere!

[shallbeagain]

Awesome!

[3thought]

Conscious atoms become bacteria, which spread virally, they become animals, they spread virally, animals become conscious humans, we spread virally, we make computers and they spread spread virally, computers become universes and they spread virally.........

DAMN. Did I just solve the creation and purpose of life by accident?

Hmmmm... What do universes become?

Dimensions?

Sorry thought this was Twitter ;)

[Spyder0156]

she's hot and smart nice

[penutwi]

smart cute girl= hotter than an HOT dumb chick

[SpaceCoastMusic]

hawt