AI Summary
5 min readThe shocking power of tiny things
Microbiologist Anne Madden opens her TED talk with a vivid invitation: touch your face. What you're feeling isn't just skin—it's over a hundred billion bacterial cells, fungi that drifted from the ceiling, cells from fecal plumes released when you last flushed a toilet, and at least two species of face mites that "definitely had sex on your face last night." She delivers this without revulsion. "We are an ecosystem," she says. "Just as we expect to have lots of different creatures living in a jungle, we expect to have lots of different creatures living in our homes and on our bodies."
Madden didn't start out passionate about microbes. She fell in love with the rainforest during a college internship in Costa Rica, studying venomous snakes and poison dart frogs. Returning to Wellesley College in Massachusetts, everything felt "beige and boring." Then she joined a microbiology lab and realized she'd never left the jungle. "There were microscopic species everywhere, just beyond the line of sight," she says. Scientists have identified perhaps one to ten percent of them.
Microscopic alchemists with practical solutions
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of TED Radio Hour
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (01:00) **The Microbial Jungle on Your Skin** - Microbiologist Anne Madden introduces the invisible ecosystem living on our bodies and in our homes.
- 2 (02:29) **From Costa Rica to the Lab: Discovering the Microscopic World** - Anne explains how a rainforest internship led her to realize she never left the jungle.
- 3 (04:22) **A New Species and a Failed Mission** - Anne recounts discovering a new fungus and her father's reaction, which clarified her true goal.
- 4 (05:42) **The Power of Tiny Organisms** - The episode pivots to frame the core theme: the extraordinary potential of small, overlooked forces.
- 5 (06:22) **Hunting for Antibiotics: The "Gladiator Test"** - Anne describes her early work searching soil for microbes that produce novel antibiotics.
- 6 (09:04) **The Wasp and the Sour Beer** - Anne shares how a yeast from a wasp's belly solved a brewing problem by creating a superior sour beer.
- 7 (11:45) **Plastic-Eating Microbes and a Sustainable Future** - Anne discusses how microbes are being used to break down plastics and build sustainable materials.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Original broadcast date: February 24, 2023.
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
More from this podcast
TED Radio Hour →