DiscoverScience on Player FMHow Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? - Science Friday
How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? - Science Friday

How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? - Science Friday

Update: 2025-10-27
Share

Description

Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have their own language? Their own culture? Their own complex societies playing out right under, and in, our noses?

Microbiologist Bonnie Bassler has been studying these questions for more than 30 years. She talks with Host Flora Lichtman about the wild world of bacterial communication, and how understanding microbes could help us understand ourselves.

Guest: Dr. Bonnie Bassler is a microbiologist at Princeton University.

The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

 


Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? - Science Friday

How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? - Science Friday