Rosetta Stone for bacteria. What began as research to understand how certain bacteria create luminescence, evolved into the discovery of how all bacteria communicate. The mystery was that single-cell bacteria can't light up on their own, yet when their numbers reach a critical mass, they magically "switch on." Bassler wanted to understand how the bacteria know that there are enough of them in one place to concert their efforts. In scientific terms: she sought to understand how bacteria detect environmental cues to regulate their gene expression and behavior. Their method, she determined: bacteria talk. A questionable premise, the work won her a 2002 MacArthur Fellowship. It gets better. Having determined that bacteria gab, Bassler and her Princeton lab mates set out to translate the language. No surprise, bacteria are multi-lingual. But there is a "bacterial Esperanto." They found it, and like any good team of code breakers, immediately began trying to interrupt it. They are now experimenting with molecules that can send "jamming" signals, preventing bacteria from communicating and executing gene expression. Essentially, they've built bacterial "silencers." For healthcare this means harmless molecules that could one day replace harmful, resistance-prone, antibiotics. It's tough to evaluate the impact on health quality and costs such work would produce. 

Speaking to NPR: "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.  We always knew we were working on something bigger than bioluminescence, but we didn't think it would be what it turned out to be. It's just been so much better."