Wow, just... wow.

See this, everybody, just sift through this. I promise you, around 10:00 you'll start realizing the staggering implications of these findings and your jaw will drop and it'll stay on the ground till the end. If this is all true (and as far as I know there's no reason to say it's not), I have no doubt this is literally the future of medicine, literally THE gateway to the next generation in mankind's relationships with bacteria, both pathogenic and beneficial. Hell, I'm pretty confident I can go as far as saying this might even be the single most important discovery since Pasteur, Leeuwenhoek and Koch.

Thanks, deathcow, I will be forwarding this sift to all the English-speaking people working in the field of medicine that I know

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Großartig!

holy shit that was interesting. for some reason the end brought tears to my eyes.

Microbiology is a fascinating subject.

Youtube version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVfmUfr8VPA

I think I've seen most of the TED talks, and, as you said, this is one of the best. Had similar reactions as EDD and DD had. Just incredible.

Sometimes, the next step isn't making the current method better, but making a different method that is inherently better.

We just have to wait for practical applications for this now.

Wait, you mean I cant pray for the mouse not to die and make him live?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

*doppleförderung

Double-Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, April 9th, 2009 4:39am PDT - doublepromote requested by dag.

Here are a few short videos Bonnie did for bigthink.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UFi0cBVa2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NoxOs-hcRU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofz2ZVRCDuU

If I understand her correctly the new drug doesn't kill the bacteria but instead blocks the receptor whereby they all agree to attack you simultaneously.

So, wouldn't you need to keep taking the drug forever? If you stop blocking the receptor then the bacteria can agree to attack you again.

Am I missing something?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'new drugs, attack, bacteria, illness' to 'new drugs, attack, bacteria, illness, bacterial esperanto, standing o' - edited by calvados

I think the answer to your question is that it gives your immune system time to kill while the bacteria remains non-pathgenic. She does leave lots of questions. Like... if all bacteria use the same messenger how can this concept not shut down good quorum sensing also? And if you eat the squid does your poop glow?

I actually managed to get a good nap listening to this while sitting beside my bed. I feel guilty haha

From what she described it ought to be possible not only to develop a broad spectrum drug that inhibits group behaviour in all species of bacteria, but also (very) species specific inhibitors. That sounds like very precise medicine to me. Also remember it's only the group behaviours which are inhibbited, the bacteria's individual functions should be unaffected.

Also, and perhaps more importantly in the short-term, even if you did need to take the drug for longer or even indefinitely, if it really doesn't cause selection in favour of drug resistant strains then that would be more acceptable than with traditional anti-biotic drugs.

I thought she presented her ideas very clearly and with a great deal of enthusiasm; if several sifters had an emotional response to this video then I suspect it was in response to the emotion in her voice. How odd that science is so often portrayed as cold-hearted and dispassionate.

Best post I've seen in a long time, kudos.

PS) She's hot!

Geesh, might as well start shopping for display cases for your Nobel prize.

I liked her sincere shout out to her graduate students, as well.

Hmm. Interesting.

What about further research into bacteriophage therapy?

As I understand things, Farhad, it was either the Emergency Medical Hologram or Dr. Julian Bashir was able to combat the phage successfully.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, April 9th, 2009 6:15pm PDT - promote requested by EDD.

*promote teh science!

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, April 16th, 2009 1:56am PDT - promote requested by BicycleRepairMan.

> PS) She's hot!

True dat.. she seems like she would like to buy really damn expensive stuff though and I need money for telescopes.

she's great.

would it be wrong to compare her to boxxy?

>> ^andybesy:
PS) She's hot!


.

> would it be wrong to compare her to boxxy?

LOL.. she is totally boxxy that is great

*promote please, sifty.

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Monday, April 20th, 2009 3:08pm PDT - promote requested by laura.

I didn't understand a word of that but apparently something cool is going to happen. I do think inserting a few pauses now and again might improve her talk.

*quality *doublepromote

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Fletch.

Double-Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Friday, March 5th, 2010 6:03pm PST - doublepromote requested by Fletch.

>> ^Deano:

I didn't understand a word of that but apparently something cool is going to happen. I do think inserting a few pauses now and again might improve her talk.


Really? You didn't understand it? I found she explained it all very nicely and it made perfect sense. And the rushing thing was more than likely a time limit imposed on the talk.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by vaporlock.