You are Only 1% Human

That is the claim by Bonnie Bass at a talk at the February 2009 TED Conference:

Watch the video here.

She argues from the fact that you are 1 trillion human cells, but 10 trillion bacterial cells. But if you look at you as being "your genes", then there are 100 times bacterial genes working hard to keep you alive compared to your human genes. So... she claims you are either 10% human or 1% human, depending on how you look at it.

Watch the video. Its informative and fun. She introduces you to...

• Social communication in bacteria via chemical "words"


• The stealth bomber of the ocean that manipulates bacteria to hide its shadow


• Control of bacterial pathogenicity by quorum sensing


• Multi-lingual bacteria using a chemical "Esperanto" language


• Develop a new bacteria treatment that disrupts communication as the "next generation" antibiotics