I called up and said, 'Dad, I won a MacArthur.' My father goes: 'I always thought your sister would win that,' and I said, 'Dad, just say congratulations and keep your private thoughts private.' At that point he laughed, then… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
Everybody, as soon as they do a good experiment, their first thought in this lab is, 'That can't be right. I must have screwed it up. What did I do wrong?' And that's the best kind of scientist because they're… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
We mostly don't get sick. Most often, bacteria are keeping us well. — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
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… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
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… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
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… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
I called up and said, 'Dad, I won a MacArthur.' My father goes: 'I always thought your sister would win that,' and I said,… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
By weight, you are more human than bacteria, because your cells are bigger, but by numbers, it's not even close. — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
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… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
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… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
If a bacterium is trying to infect you, it won't secrete alone, because your immune system will block it. Bacteria will hide until they… — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
Bacteria mineralized the rocks; they deposited the iron. They made the geology we see. — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
You think of yourselves as human beings, but I think of you as 99 percent bacterial. — Bonnie Bassler Copy Share Image
