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Do you feel that way? Ideas

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worth spreading. From Ted and

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NPR. I'm Manouche

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Zamorote. And

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today on the show, Small

1:02

but Mighty. So, I

1:04

want you to touch your

1:07

face. Go on, touch it.

1:09

What do you feel?

1:11

Soft, squishy, maybe

1:14

chafed. It's you,

1:16

right? You're feeling

1:19

you? That's not

1:21

quite right. You're actually feeling

1:23

over a hundred billion bacterial

1:26

cells on your face. Those

1:28

that are creating some of

1:30

the aromas of body odor

1:32

and stickiness. You're feeling some

1:35

of fungi that have floated

1:37

down from the rafters or

1:39

sealing today. Those that set

1:42

off allergies. You're likely coated

1:44

with some... material cells that

1:46

came from the fecal plumes

1:48

that arose out of the

1:51

toilet the last time you

1:53

flushed it. Oh yeah, and there's at

1:55

least two species of face

1:57

mites that are squishing their

2:00

way across your skin. And

2:02

they definitely had sex on

2:04

your face last night. This

2:06

is Anne Madden. She's a

2:08

microbiologist and self-described micro-brangler who

2:11

does not seem to be

2:13

bothered by what she just

2:15

described. We are an ecosystem

2:17

and so just as we

2:19

expect to have lots of

2:22

different creatures living in our

2:24

homes and on our bodies.

2:26

And while that's gross, it's

2:28

also pretty cool. Anne hasn't

2:30

always been passionate about

2:32

the microscopic jungle that surrounds

2:34

us. It certainly wasn't on

2:37

her mind when she went

2:39

to college. But I had

2:41

this opportunity to do an

2:43

internship in the rainforest of

2:45

Costa Rica. And so when

2:47

I arrive in the jungle,

2:49

I see these... trees that

2:52

are taller than cathedrals. And

2:54

there are these howling monkeys

2:56

that sound like dying jaguars

2:58

and these beautifully, vibrantly colored,

3:00

poisoned dark frogs that kind of

3:02

sound like a baby duck everywhere.

3:04

And I am in love. And

3:07

as I get to help all

3:09

of these different scientists study

3:11

venomous snakes and poisoned art

3:13

frogs and plants. I realize

3:15

we know nothing about our

3:18

beautiful magnificent world and that

3:20

the process of research is

3:22

this puzzle, this adventure, and

3:25

it never ends. But it

3:27

did end, at least for

3:29

Anne. She had to go home

3:31

and back to school. And I

3:33

went back to Wellesley College in

3:35

Massachusetts and everything was beige and

3:38

boring and there were no poison

3:40

dark frogs and I was as

3:42

far away from the jungle as

3:44

I could imagine. But

3:47

then I started research in a

3:49

microbiology lab, and I found out

3:52

that I'd never left the jungle.

3:54

There were microscopic species everywhere, just

3:56

beyond the line of sight, and

3:59

these species... We barely uncovered what

4:01

they were. Maybe we know one

4:03

to 10% of what these species

4:05

are. And if you grow them

4:07

on a Petri plate, they erupt

4:09

in colors and aromas and very

4:11

strange little behaviors. And many of

4:13

them can do remarkable things and

4:15

have been doing remarkable things. And

4:17

yet they never get credit for

4:19

it. And so I think that's

4:21

when I fell in love with

4:23

microbiology. I remember the first time

4:25

I discovered and got to name

4:28

a new species. Ann Madden continues

4:30

from the TED stage. It was

4:32

a fungus that lives in the

4:34

nest of a paper wasp. It's white

4:36

and fluffy, and I named it

4:38

Mukor niticola, meaning in Latin that

4:41

it lives in the nest of

4:43

another. I called up my dad, and

4:45

I go, Dad, I just discovered a

4:47

new microorganism species.

4:49

And he laughs, and he goes,

4:51

that's great. I hope you also discovered

4:54

a cure for it. Now my dad

4:56

is my biggest fan. So in that crushing

4:58

a moment where he wanted to kill

5:01

my new little life form, I realized

5:03

that actually I'd failed him. In my

5:05

years toiling away in labs

5:07

and in people's backyards, investigating

5:10

and cataloging the microscopic life

5:12

around us, I'd never made clear my

5:14

true mission to him. My goal is not

5:16

to find technology to kill the new

5:18

microscopic life around us. My goal is

5:21

to find new technology from this life

5:23

that will help save us. The

5:26

diversity of life in our homes

5:28

is more than a list of 100,000

5:31

new species. It is 100,000

5:33

new sources of solutions to

5:35

human problems. I know

5:37

it's hard to believe that anything

5:39

that's so small or only has

5:42

one cell can do anything

5:44

powerful, but they can. Tiny

5:46

organisms with extraordinary potential.

5:48

A single word that

5:51

can pack a punch.

5:53

A passing moment. that

5:55

changes everything in a

5:57

world of attention-grabbing headlines

5:59

and... seismic global events,

6:01

we sometimes forget the little

6:04

guy, the almost imperceptible but

6:06

powerful forces around us. And

6:09

so today on the show,

6:11

small but mighty. Forget big

6:13

and boisterous. We are talking

6:16

about things that are minuscule

6:18

or fleeting, but potent.

6:21

Like microbes, which can both

6:23

hurt and help us humans.

6:25

We live in a time of

6:27

a horrid pandemic, so I think

6:29

we're all familiar with how powerful

6:32

and how devastating one microbe can

6:34

be, in this case, a virus.

6:36

But many microbes around us are

6:38

equally powerful, but they're not devastating.

6:41

So there are microbes in our

6:43

dust bunnies that are the source

6:45

of many of our antibiotics, and

6:48

they've been saving our loved ones

6:50

for as long as we've known.

6:52

One of the first jobs that

6:54

Ann Madden ever had was working

6:57

in research at a pharmaceutical company.

6:59

And our goal was to find

7:01

new microbes with the idea being

7:04

that these new microbes could create

7:06

novel antibiotics. And so that's where

7:09

I really learned my microbrangling skills.

7:11

We were using new techniques to

7:13

grow microbes from soil that had never

7:15

been grown before and no one had

7:18

ever explored them in the lab. And

7:20

indeed, these bizarre, slow-growing, tenacious little critters

7:22

were creating novel antibiotics. And though they

7:24

haven't been commercialized yet, we were successful

7:27

in finding them. You knew what you

7:29

were looking for then. I mean, it's

7:31

not like you're like, here's a new

7:33

microbe, let's see what it does. Like,

7:36

what are some of the clues that

7:38

you look for when you are hunting

7:40

down microbes that you think might have

7:42

medicinal uses? Yeah, so part of it

7:45

is the idea of guilty by

7:47

association. So other microbes that live

7:49

in our soil are the source

7:51

of many of our antibiotics that

7:53

we use today. You'll actually know

7:55

if they're in the soil because

7:57

they produce the smell of fresh

7:59

turned earth. And so these microbes,

8:01

you grow them in the lab

8:03

and they actually look like tiny

8:05

little sheep. They're adorable and fluffy.

8:07

And one strategy is to then

8:09

look for species of microbes that

8:12

are related, the idea being if

8:14

your cousins can do it, maybe

8:16

you can too. Do you give

8:18

them like bits of disease and

8:20

see how they respond or how

8:22

do you test it? Yeah. So

8:24

there are different ways of assessing

8:27

whether a microbe can produce novel

8:29

antibiotics. one of them is a

8:31

gladiator test. So you actually put

8:33

them in a Petri plate next

8:35

to a microbe that causes disease.

8:37

So say you've got a microbe

8:39

that's MRSA, right? So it's a

8:42

horrible staph infection. And you can

8:44

slather it on a Petri plate

8:46

and have it grow. And then

8:48

you come back the next day

8:50

and you look to see who

8:52

grew and who died. Oh, wow.

8:54

Okay. Battle to the finish. Yeah.

8:57

And so that gives you one

8:59

hint. That's not the end of

9:01

the end of the story by

9:03

any means, by any means, but

9:05

it. It gives you a clue

9:07

that, all right, this fluffy microbe

9:09

has something that's killing off a

9:12

microbe that causes disease. So maybe

9:14

we can isolate that something, extract

9:16

it, and maybe it can do

9:18

what no other antibiotics could do

9:20

before. Okay, Anne, you have also

9:22

been working on projects that are

9:24

more about the simple pleasures in

9:27

life. like a good beer, which

9:29

brings us to another microbe story

9:31

that involves wasps. Yeah, so as

9:33

soon as you start talking about

9:35

wasp research, people, my entire life,

9:37

always said, what's good about a

9:39

wasp? Nobody likes wasps. These are

9:42

stinging creatures that often create nests

9:44

in our eaves. But it turns

9:46

out that yeasts, microbes that we

9:48

love because they make bread and

9:50

beer and all sorts of lovely

9:52

flavors flavors. Use wasps as airplanes.

9:54

We started with a pest. Inside

9:57

that wasp, we clucked out a

9:59

little-known microorganism species with a unique

10:01

ability. It could make beer. This

10:03

is a trait that only a

10:05

few species on... this planet have.

10:07

In fact, all commercially produced beer

10:09

you've ever had likely came from

10:12

one of only three microorganism species.

10:14

Yet our species, it could make

10:16

a beer that tasted like honey.

10:18

And it could also make a

10:20

delightfully tart beer. In fact, this

10:22

microorganism species that lives in the

10:24

belly of a wasp, it could

10:27

make a valuable sour beer better

10:29

than any other species on this

10:31

planet. This yeast could do what

10:33

no other yeast species could do

10:35

before it, which is make a

10:37

sour beer in record time, just

10:39

a few weeks. And so, brewers

10:42

could make sour beer more economically,

10:44

and people could enjoy new flavors

10:46

and understand the benefits of biodiversity.

10:48

And with that weird little moment

10:50

in time, we gave a yeast

10:52

the ability to make beer for

10:54

the first time in 150 million

10:57

years of its existence. And so

10:59

now, just a few years later,

11:01

brewing with these lactic acid yeast

11:03

is now commonplace. And there's something

11:05

magical about that. I'm here to

11:07

tell you that the next 100

11:09

years will feature these microscopic creatures

11:12

solving more of our problems. And

11:14

we have a lot of problems

11:16

to choose from. We've got the

11:18

mundane, bad-smelling clothes or bland food.

11:20

And we've got the monumental, disease,

11:22

pollution, war. And so this is

11:24

my mission. to not just catalog

11:27

the microscopic life around us, but

11:29

to find out what it's uniquely

11:31

well suited to help us with.

11:33

These creatures are microscopic alchemists, with

11:35

the ability to transform their environment

11:37

with an arsenal of chemical tools.

11:39

This means that they can live

11:42

anywhere on this planet, and they

11:44

can eat whatever foods around them.

11:46

This means they can eat everything

11:48

from toxic waste to plastic. I

11:51

keep thinking about what you've mentioned

11:53

a couple times now, which is

11:55

plastic eating microbes. I mean, that

11:58

is, we always hear about, you

12:00

know, the... plastic that goes into

12:02

a landfill and is going to

12:05

be around for thousands and thousands

12:07

of years. Is there a possibility

12:09

that that actually maybe that might

12:12

not be true? That if we

12:14

could add microbes it would in

12:16

some fashion break down? Absolutely. So

12:18

scientists have already found microbes that

12:21

are incredibly adept at breaking down

12:23

plastics, even the plastics that seem

12:25

to last forever. That's really what

12:28

they were designed to do. And

12:30

as we think about our future,

12:32

we need to think about not

12:35

just the microbes that are going

12:37

to break down plastic, but those

12:39

that are going to help us

12:42

build materials that are more sustainable.

12:44

And so right now there are

12:46

also microbes that generate PLA or

12:48

polylactic acid, which is the plastic-like

12:51

filaments that a lot of people

12:53

are using in 3D printers. And

12:55

those are made by microbes. Are

12:58

they more biodegradable? They are. And

13:00

there are groups that are now

13:02

using AI and machine learning to

13:05

enhance the activity of those microbe-made

13:07

enzymes that tear apart plastic. And

13:09

so it's going to be microbial

13:12

skill sets and human ingenuity linked

13:14

together to create that better future.

13:16

When we return, the most famous

13:18

microbe of all? I'm Manouche Zamorote

13:21

and you're listening to the TED

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message comes from Carvana. This

16:11

is the immense world that we

16:13

live in at the microbial scale. I

16:15

do feel like the pandemic

16:17

changed my relationship to microbes.

16:20

Maybe it made me a

16:22

little bit paranoid in many

16:24

ways. And not just the

16:27

idea that there is a

16:29

virus circulating among us. but

16:31

potentially many scary microbes around

16:34

us. How do you feel

16:36

like people's relationship with microbes

16:38

has been changed by COVID?

16:41

Yeah, so I think during

16:43

the pandemic, particularly at the

16:45

beginning, watched as the word

16:47

microbe brought chills to everyone.

16:49

And I saw it in young

16:52

children too, where it was a

16:54

lesson that was hard learned microbes

16:56

kill. They destroy. They bring with

16:59

them. sadness and isolation.

17:01

And I think as we

17:03

navigate our microbial world, it's

17:05

important to also teach children

17:07

and students that, again, not

17:10

all microbes are evil. And

17:12

so while it's important that

17:14

we use hand sanitizer and things

17:16

like that to limit the spread

17:18

of certain microbes, we need to

17:21

remember the plurality of these species

17:23

and that there are microbes that

17:25

we can play with in the

17:27

soil. and that that brings with

17:30

it health, not just kind of

17:32

griminess or germinous of

17:34

what we think of. So when it

17:36

comes to good microbes, do you

17:39

worry that, you know, just as

17:41

certain species are going extinct, are

17:43

certain microbes also in trouble? Have

17:46

we humans caused them harm? Oh,

17:48

so what keeps me up at

17:50

night sometimes is thinking about all

17:53

the microbes that have gone extinct.

17:55

Because we have no idea what

17:58

they are. We have no idea. who

18:00

they were or what they did.

18:02

And I don't just think about

18:05

that in terms of those that

18:07

are in our house that we

18:09

might have accidentally killed off with

18:11

some kind of bleaching agent, but

18:14

I think about that in the

18:16

world in terms of habitats and

18:18

as we navigate worlds where we're

18:21

clear-cutting forests, we don't... really know

18:23

all the microbes that we've lost.

18:25

And there very well might be

18:28

microbes out there that are going

18:30

to create the solutions to our

18:32

future problems. And so one of

18:35

the reasons that I know a

18:37

lot of microbiologists, such as myself,

18:39

love uncovering new species to science

18:42

is that part of that discovery

18:44

involves conservation. We are asked when

18:46

we name a species or other

18:49

required to put some of those

18:51

cells into a deep freeze in

18:53

multiple countries. So they are sitting

18:56

in bio-banks where they can be

18:58

revived in the future. And we

19:00

don't necessarily know what any of

19:03

those microbes are going to be

19:05

doing right now. A lot of

19:07

them sit just as specimens with

19:09

Latin names that no one can

19:12

pronounce. But that doesn't mean that

19:14

they'll always be that way. There

19:16

might be a future where they

19:19

are revived and those cells will

19:21

help. people combat a future pandemic.

19:23

Or maybe they'll help them grow

19:26

furniture in space stations, or something

19:28

far more mundane. But the key

19:30

is that they still exist. That's

19:33

microbiologist Anne Madden. She's the founder

19:35

and chief scientist at the Microbe

19:37

Institute. You can see her full

19:40

talk at TED. On

19:43

the show today, how the little

19:45

things in life can make a

19:48

big difference, like the words we

19:50

use to express ourselves every day.

19:52

Our next guest studies how small

19:54

variations in language may mean big

19:56

distinctions in how we experience the

19:59

life. world. And

20:01

to demonstrate let's play a little

20:03

game. Close your eyes. Yes

20:05

well so if you're driving don't

20:07

close your eyes but if

20:09

you're not driving or operating another

20:11

kind of motor vehicle, close

20:13

your eyes and point southeast. Southeast

20:17

okay. Yeah. I'm pointing okay.

20:19

So if you do this in

20:21

a any kind of normal

20:23

room full of westerners. I want

20:25

you all to close your

20:27

eyes and point southeast. Keep

20:31

your eyes closed point. And then

20:33

you have people open their eyes.

20:35

They will immediately see that they

20:37

have pointed in every possible direction.

20:39

I see you guys pointing there,

20:41

there, there, there, there. I don't

20:43

know which way it is myself. You

20:47

have not been a lot of help. And

20:50

I do this to point

20:53

out that there can be really

20:55

big cognitive differences between groups

20:57

of people. And I've had a

20:59

chance to work in an

21:01

Aboriginal community in Australia where

21:04

they could do this task very easily.

21:06

I could ask a five -year -old girl,

21:08

hey can you point southeast? And she

21:11

would point immediately and without hesitation. And

21:13

you know that's a big

21:16

difference compared to say a

21:18

room full of distinguished scientists.

21:20

So I'll point in different

21:22

directions. This is cognitive scientist,

21:24

Lara Boroditsky. And I study

21:26

how humans get so smart,

21:28

how the languages and cultures

21:30

that we have help us

21:32

think the way that we do.

21:37

So Lara, it may not seem

21:39

obvious to some of us,

21:41

but what do you think

21:43

this exercise of pointing southeast

21:45

says about how language influences

21:47

the brain? Well, our

21:50

languages and cultures teach us

21:52

to pay attention to certain things

21:54

and not to other things.

21:56

There's basically an infinite set of

21:58

things that we could possibly... take

22:00

in process, but our brains can't

22:02

process all the information, can't take

22:04

in all the information, so we

22:06

have to make some choices. And

22:08

one of the ways that we

22:10

make those choices are by the

22:12

things that our languages and cultures

22:14

require of us. So in this

22:16

aboriginal community in Australia that I

22:18

mentioned, they, instead of using words

22:20

like left and right to give

22:22

directions or to talk about the

22:24

body, they use cardinal directions, more

22:26

or less north-south, east and west.

22:29

And they use these directions at

22:31

all scales. So for example, in

22:33

some languages like this, like in

22:35

Google Umatier, you would even say,

22:37

there's an ant on your southwest leg.

22:40

You would say, you know, move

22:42

your cup to the north-northeast a

22:44

little bit. In Kuktaya, this language

22:46

that I had a chance to work

22:48

on, the way you even say hello

22:51

is, which way are you going? And

22:53

the answer should be something like north-northwest

22:55

in the far distance. How about

22:57

you? Imagine as you're walking around

23:00

your day, every person you greet,

23:02

you have to report your heading

23:04

direction. Here's Lara Borodinsky on the

23:06

TED stage. That would actually get you

23:08

oriented pretty fast, right? Because you

23:10

literally couldn't get past hello, if

23:12

you didn't know which way you're

23:14

going. In fact, people who speak languages

23:16

like this stay oriented really, really

23:19

well. They stay oriented better than

23:21

we used to think humans could.

23:23

We used to think that humans

23:25

were worse than other creatures, ...

23:27

Some biological excuse, oh, we don't

23:30

have magnets in our beaks or

23:32

in our scales. No. If your

23:34

language and your culture trains you

23:36

to do it, actually, you can do

23:38

it. So for me, whenever I

23:40

come across an example like this,

23:42

the biggest lesson for me is

23:45

to not underestimate the potential of

23:47

the human mind, not just to

23:49

say that the things that I

23:51

can do or the things that

23:53

I can imagine, those are the

23:56

limits. Language allows us to recombine

23:58

elements in infinite new ways. and

24:00

create new ideas on the

24:02

spot. So right now I

24:04

could say, imagine a giraffe

24:06

river dancing at a pancake

24:09

while solving differential equations, right?

24:11

You've never had that thought

24:13

before? No, no, I'm glad

24:15

happy to say. Maybe it's

24:17

not the most useful thought,

24:20

but there's so many other

24:22

thoughts like that that people

24:24

throughout history have had, and

24:26

all of a sudden we

24:28

have. interesting ideas about time

24:30

travel that make us engage

24:33

with the future in different

24:35

ways. So this ability to

24:37

think beyond what is physically

24:39

present and imagine and work

24:41

in the realm of the

24:44

abstract is one of the

24:46

things that language opens the

24:48

door to. You

24:50

are really the latest in

24:52

a long, centuries-long line of

24:54

people who have been asking

24:56

this question. Does language shape

24:58

the way we think? Why

25:00

is this been such a

25:02

debated topic? Because when I,

25:04

you know, I remember the

25:06

first time thinking about it,

25:08

I just assumed it did,

25:10

but actually... This is not

25:12

something that anyone agrees on

25:14

how it works. Well, I

25:16

think often we disagree with

25:19

ourselves about it, right? I

25:21

think all of us have

25:23

both intuitions. And so the

25:25

idea that language shapes thought

25:27

is very similar to the

25:29

idea that physical exercises changes

25:31

the way that your body

25:33

looks and acts. Right. When

25:35

you speak a language, you're

25:37

practicing paying attention, you're practicing

25:39

categorizing something every day constantly.

25:41

And so it would be,

25:43

in fact, the most surprising

25:45

thing that the thing that

25:47

you do all day every

25:49

day, this practice of speaking

25:51

language, would have no influence

25:53

on your brain. And for

25:55

me as a scientist, what's

25:57

interesting is to... figure out

25:59

what are the times that

26:01

language shapes thought meaningfully, and

26:03

what are the times that

26:05

it doesn't. And so I think

26:07

one of the reasons that this idea

26:10

has gotten new life in the last 20

26:12

or 30 years is because we

26:14

started using experimental methods

26:16

like real scientific experimental

26:18

methods rather than just

26:21

arguing back and forth

26:23

about our intuitions. One

26:25

of your critics, John McWater,

26:27

the linguist, he said, well,

26:29

the gradual consensus is becoming

26:31

that language can shape thought,

26:34

but it tends to be

26:36

in rather darling obscure psychological

26:38

flutters. It's not a matter

26:40

of giving you a different

26:42

pair of glasses on the world.

26:45

Is this a small discovery that you're

26:47

making or would you beg

26:49

to differ? Obviously I would beg

26:51

to differ because there are many

26:53

different ways you could ask how

26:55

deep, big, important differences

26:58

are. And there are

27:00

studies that reveal really

27:02

big, interesting differences of

27:04

different kinds. So for

27:06

example, if we look at

27:08

color perception, different languages have

27:11

different words for colors, put

27:13

color boundaries in different places,

27:16

we can find that. language

27:18

influences even these tiny perceptual

27:21

decisions that are so early

27:23

on and so kind of stupid,

27:25

you know, like a pigeon could

27:27

make these decisions and yet somehow

27:29

even in these smart human brains

27:32

language is making a difference in

27:34

how you tell the difference between

27:36

two patches of blue for example.

27:39

Now that tells us that language

27:41

can have an extremely early influence

27:43

in cognition and if it can

27:46

influence something very early that means

27:48

it's influencing all of the other

27:50

things downstream. Language also differ in

27:53

how they describe events, right? So you

27:55

take an event like this, an accident,

27:57

in English it's fine to say Hebrew...

27:59

the vase. In a language like

28:02

Spanish, you might be more likely

28:04

to say the vase broke or

28:06

the vase broke itself. If it's

28:09

an accident, you wouldn't say that

28:11

someone did it. Now this has

28:13

consequences. So we show the same

28:15

accident to English speakers and Spanish

28:18

speakers. English speakers will remember who

28:20

did it. because English requires you

28:22

to say, he did it, he

28:25

broke the base. Where Spanish speakers

28:27

might be less likely to remember

28:29

who did it if it's an

28:31

accident, but they're more likely to

28:34

remember that it was an accident.

28:36

They're more likely to remember the

28:38

intention. So two people watch the

28:41

same event, witness the same crime,

28:43

but end up remembering different things

28:45

about that event. This is implications,

28:47

of course, for eyewitness testimony. The

28:50

language guides are reasoning about events.

28:53

So another example that's coming

28:55

to mind for me, and

28:57

tell me if this fits,

28:59

it's the use of gendered

29:01

pronouns in the US. So

29:03

one of my daughter's friends

29:05

uses non-binary pronouns, they them.

29:07

And my daughter and I

29:09

were talking to my mother

29:11

about this friend, and my

29:13

mother was getting so confused.

29:15

Every time we referred to

29:17

them, because she thought we

29:19

were referring to multiple people,

29:21

and it made me think,

29:23

like, does this come down

29:25

to a generational thing? The

29:27

way we change the way

29:29

that we use language, the

29:31

way we think about the

29:33

gendered sex of someone, that

29:35

is changing. Does this example

29:37

fit into what you're talking

29:39

about? Absolutely. Yeah, it's a

29:41

wonderful example. And it's another

29:43

wonderful example of how... Whatever

29:45

it is that we're used

29:47

to seems to be the

29:49

way that things naturally should

29:51

be. So for example, in

29:53

English, we mark gender on

29:55

third-person singular pronouns. So he,

29:57

she, his, her. We don't

29:59

mark... gender on those pronouns

30:01

causes some people incredible pain.

30:03

And they will argue on

30:05

second person pronouns. We only

30:07

have you. So in fact,

30:09

most of English pronouns are

30:11

gender neutral. It's just in

30:13

a third person singular that

30:15

we mark gender, but proposing

30:17

that there could be a

30:19

new pronoun or proposing that

30:21

we could not mark gender

30:23

on those pronouns causes some

30:25

people incredible pain. And they

30:27

will argue nothing will be

30:29

understandable if we don't have

30:31

gender. But there are languages

30:33

that mark gender on first-person

30:35

pronouns or at second-person pronouns

30:37

or on plural pronouns. Some

30:39

languages don't mark gender at

30:41

all, right? Like, take a

30:43

finish as an example. There

30:45

are no gendered third-person pronouns

30:47

in Finnish. And in experiments

30:49

looking at, for example, Hebrew

30:51

learning kids, English learning kids,

30:53

and Finnish learning kids. It

30:55

turns out that kids... learning

30:57

Hebrew is their first language,

30:59

figure out whether they themselves

31:01

are a boy or a

31:03

girl earlier. In Hebrew, even

31:05

the second person pronoun is

31:08

gendered, so the word for

31:10

you is gendered. English is

31:12

somewhere in between, and then

31:14

Finnish kids take about a

31:16

year, an extra year before

31:18

they can reliably classify themselves

31:20

with boys or girls. And

31:22

so that's an indication of

31:24

language forcing you to pay

31:26

attention to some dimension that

31:28

you may want to think

31:30

about it in a different

31:32

way. And so what may

31:34

seem like a very small

31:36

difference to one person might

31:38

seem a really big deal

31:40

to someone else. Of course,

31:42

if it applies to you,

31:44

it's going to be a

31:46

lot more important, and you

31:48

may feel like the language

31:50

that you're being forced to

31:52

speak is constantly forcing you

31:54

into one category or another

31:56

that doesn't fit. That has

31:58

always been the way language

32:00

change comes about. People feel

32:02

like the current language that

32:04

they're speaking doesn't fit

32:06

their thinking, doesn't fit the way

32:08

that they want to be in the

32:10

world, and so they start trying

32:12

to change the language and

32:15

inviting other people to also think

32:17

in this new way. And thinking in

32:19

new ways is painful. So what would

32:21

you say the goal then as of

32:23

your research? I mean, why should someone

32:25

just listening to the show know

32:27

this? What do you think it... does

32:30

for them? Oh, well, I think

32:32

whenever you're looking at another culture,

32:34

another language, the most important thing

32:36

you could learn is about yourself

32:38

in your own language, in your

32:41

own culture, right? So take the

32:43

mirror and turn it on yourself

32:45

and say, why do I think

32:47

the way that I do? Why

32:49

would I be surprised that someone

32:52

thinks differently? Like I have been

32:54

practicing speaking in this way, thinking

32:56

in this way my whole life.

32:58

And often we assume that whatever

33:00

it is that we're used to

33:02

is the way that things have

33:04

to be. But actually we have

33:07

many more options. And so for

33:09

me it is always an invitation

33:11

to one examine the assumptions that

33:13

I have and why is it

33:15

that I think the way that

33:17

I do? How could I think

33:19

differently? How do I want to

33:21

think? And then you can learn

33:23

a lot and you can expand

33:25

your own thinking. That's

33:29

Lara Boroditzki. She's a

33:31

professor of cognitive science

33:33

at the University of

33:35

California, San Diego. You can

33:37

see her full talk at

33:39

ted.com. On the show today,

33:41

small but mighty. I'm Anusha

33:43

Zamorote, and you're listening to

33:45

the TED Radio Hour from

33:48

NPR. We'll be right back. This

34:28

and the following message come from

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Bolan Branch. Change your sleep with

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Bolan Branch's airy blankets, cloud-like duvees,

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34:42

Exclusions apply, C-site for details. Were

37:22

you like I don't even need

37:24

to think about Sam I can

37:26

concentrate on the other kids because

37:29

he's got this he's he's gonna

37:31

be just fine? Strangely, I think

37:33

the opposite happened. You know other

37:36

kids who were very vocal about

37:38

not being able to do something

37:40

it's very easy to catch and

37:43

help them but for a kid

37:45

like Sam I didn't want to

37:47

miss those little subtle signs. Yayun

37:50

was always trying to pick up

37:52

on those signs, those moments, when

37:54

a child needed help, like if

37:56

they fell down. Yes, when a

37:59

kid would fall down, they would...

38:01

didn't start crying immediately. There was

38:03

a few seconds of buffering that

38:06

was happening where the kid would

38:08

stand up kind of confused as

38:10

to what just happened before he

38:13

or she would have an emotional

38:15

reaction to it. And most of

38:17

the time it wasn't because they

38:20

were injured, it was more because

38:22

of the shock and that kind

38:24

of sense of reassurance that they

38:27

could get from the teacher. or

38:29

please console me that kind of

38:31

of a feeling almost. And as

38:34

a new teacher, Yea Yun really

38:36

wanted to be that person to

38:38

reassure them. She was just waiting

38:41

to share one of those moments

38:43

with a student. Yes, I kind

38:45

of felt that, but when I

38:47

saw that happening over and over

38:50

to other teachers but never happening

38:52

to me, that kind of became

38:54

something that I really wanted for

38:57

me to achieve in a way.

38:59

And then one day I heard

39:01

one of the students calling me

39:04

saying, teacher Sam fell down. So

39:06

I rushed to the indoor playground.

39:08

There Sam was looking, you know,

39:11

puzzled and kind of confused. And

39:13

he turned around and looked at

39:15

me and his lip started trembling

39:18

and just burst up. crying. So

39:20

I rushed to him and gave

39:22

him a hug and I said,

39:25

oh, Sam, it's okay. What happened?

39:27

Does it hurt? And it lasted

39:29

only a few seconds, but that

39:32

moment kind of imparted in me

39:34

as that feeling of, wow, this

39:36

connection finally happened. You felt needed.

39:39

Yes, I felt needed. I think

39:41

the fact that it was also

39:43

Sam made it a bit more

39:45

special. After

39:51

that year, Yayoon moved on

39:53

from teaching, and she didn't

39:55

really think about Sam that

39:57

much. Eventually, she landed a

39:59

job managing volunteer. for a

40:01

non-profit and she loved it.

40:03

I found the work very

40:05

enjoyable and it was so

40:07

much fun and I think

40:09

that was the beginning of

40:11

me justifying to myself that

40:13

hey you know 14-16-hour days

40:15

are fine as long as

40:17

I'm having fun and if

40:19

you're actually having fun is

40:21

it work. So I started

40:23

losing time that would help

40:25

me be me outside of

40:27

work. Kind of like Sam,

40:29

Yayoon did not want to

40:31

ask for help. Instead, after

40:33

a long day, she would

40:35

blow off steam by going

40:37

out. Exactly. And that's how

40:39

it kind of started. At

40:41

the end of a very

40:43

long workday, look for other

40:45

friends who have had long

40:47

days and have a drink,

40:49

and that would lead to

40:51

a few more drinks and

40:53

a few more drinks. Eventually

40:55

got to a point where

40:57

I didn't know what to

40:59

do with myself if I

41:01

wasn't working or if I

41:03

wasn't out drinking with friends.

41:05

I really thought that I

41:07

was doing it all. I

41:10

was kicking butt at work.

41:12

I was the entertainer in

41:14

my friend groups. Even if

41:16

there was a big work

41:18

day tomorrow, I would go

41:20

and still be able to

41:22

perform well at work. At

41:24

that time, I really didn't

41:26

see it as a problem.

41:28

I should have. Now I

41:30

know that I was a

41:32

very high-functioning alcoholic. A sign

41:34

that should have told me

41:36

you should seek help was

41:38

that I would often have

41:40

blackouts. One morning after one

41:42

of her blackouts, Yayune woke

41:44

up with a big cut

41:46

on her foot, and no

41:48

idea how it happened how

41:50

it happened. She could only

41:52

remember the previous night in

41:54

brief flashes. The flashes that

41:56

I did remember were horrifying.

41:58

I was extremely frustrated. and

42:00

afraid almost in

42:03

a state of

42:05

paranoia and crying

42:07

for help. So

42:10

did you have a

42:12

person in your world

42:15

then like Sam

42:17

found in you

42:19

this person who

42:22

you could be

42:24

vulnerable with he could

42:26

ask for help? When

42:29

that moment happened, I couldn't see

42:31

the help. I had friends who

42:33

were around me. We had gone

42:35

to dinner, but I was still

42:38

in that buffering phase, like Sam.

42:40

I was just kind of standing

42:42

up for what had happened, and

42:45

I think I was trying to

42:47

figure out how to get myself

42:49

out of this mess. So when

42:51

my friend noticed that I

42:54

was... not really participating in

42:56

conversation or answering questions. He

42:58

removed me from the place.

43:00

We went outside of the

43:02

restaurant. That's where he had

43:04

to shake me, shake me

43:06

and said, can you do

43:08

this? And I had to

43:10

say, no, I can't. Then

43:12

can I please? help you

43:14

and can I please get

43:16

the other people around you

43:18

to help you as well.

43:21

And when I was finally able

43:23

to say, yes, I do need

43:25

the help, it really felt like

43:27

almost like an out of body

43:30

experience where I could see

43:32

myself being bubble wrapped by

43:34

all the people around me

43:36

and it just felt so

43:38

light. There were so many

43:40

people ready and already helping

43:42

me that I just didn't

43:44

notice beforehand. I think

43:47

for some of us who see ourselves

43:49

as very independent, and

43:51

you'll notice I'm including

43:53

myself in this question,

43:55

admitting vulnerability feels weak.

43:57

It does. Did that

43:59

change? for you? Yes, I

44:01

wasn't really sure if I

44:03

wanted to so openly talk

44:06

about this because it was

44:08

really me admitting to people

44:10

that I work with on

44:12

a daily basis to say

44:14

I have struggled with alcohol

44:17

abuse and have burned out.

44:19

So I really didn't know

44:21

how it would come across.

44:23

I didn't want this to

44:25

be a way for other

44:28

people to think of me

44:30

differently. After sharing the story,

44:32

I'm kind of relieved that

44:34

people don't look at me

44:36

the same way that they

44:39

did before. I'm not just

44:41

this bubbly, you know, an

44:43

independent person that has everything

44:45

together. Yes, I am all

44:47

of that, but also I'm

44:50

deeply flawed and I'm struggling.

44:52

So when I felt like,

44:54

oh, yes, I do need

44:56

to get professional help. I

44:58

sought out a therapist and

45:01

after sharing the story... So

45:03

many people were coming to

45:05

me asking for advice on

45:07

how did I look out

45:10

for my therapist? How is

45:12

therapy? That really made me

45:14

feel like, oh, I did

45:16

the right thing of being

45:18

a little courageous to share

45:21

this story because so many

45:23

people came asking me for

45:25

help afterwards. I mean, that's

45:27

huge. Yeah. Especially from the

45:29

Asian context where... Going to

45:32

therapy is still very taboo.

45:34

It was really encouraging to

45:36

see people be more open

45:38

about it with me. To

45:40

me, this tiny little moment

45:43

of you and Sam locking

45:45

eyes. It's like a tiny

45:47

little push of a domino.

45:49

It sets off this cascade.

45:51

And then to see the

45:54

tables turned as an adult.

45:56

It sounds like this moment

45:58

of accepting the offer of

46:00

help from your friend was

46:02

also a huge turning point

46:05

for you. Yes. I would

46:07

imagine that if someone comes

46:09

to you for help and

46:11

looks to you and cries

46:13

and looks very hopeless, that

46:16

somehow you are the person

46:18

in the position with the

46:20

power. But very weirdly in

46:22

that moment, when Sam looked

46:24

at me, it didn't feel

46:27

that way. But rather... This

46:29

is such a privilege. He

46:31

had something so powerful and

46:33

he was willing to give

46:35

it to me by asking

46:38

me to be the one

46:40

to help him. It's really

46:42

just a four-letter word, help,

46:44

but when you say it,

46:46

it's powerful. That was yayoon

46:49

Kim. You can watch her

46:51

talk at ted.com. On the

46:53

show today, small... but mighty.

46:55

And we started off the

46:57

episode with the tiniest organisms,

47:00

microbes, and now we want

47:02

to end with another critter,

47:04

rats. Over the past 25

47:06

years, rats have been crucial

47:08

to helping sniff outland mines

47:11

in former war zones. But

47:13

where on earth did the

47:15

idea come to recruit lowly

47:17

rodents to do this life-saving

47:19

work? industrial engineer Bart Wittians

47:22

explained on the TED stage

47:24

in 2010. I'm here today

47:26

to share with you an

47:28

extraordinary journey, extraordinary rewarding journey

47:31

actually, which brought me into

47:33

training rats to save human

47:35

lives by detecting landmines. As

47:37

a child I had a

47:39

passion for rodents. I had

47:42

a passion for rodents. I

47:44

had all kinds of rats,

47:46

mice, hamsters, you name it,

47:48

I bred it and I

47:50

sold them to pet shops.

47:53

I became an industrial engineer,

47:55

engineering product development, and I

47:57

focused on appropriate detection technologies.

47:59

Actually, the first... appropriate technologies

48:01

for developing countries.

48:03

I started working in the

48:06

industry, but I wasn't really

48:08

happy to contribute to a

48:10

material consumer society. I

48:12

quit my job to focus on a real

48:14

world problem, landmines. Two thousand people,

48:16

every month, are killed or

48:19

made by mines around the

48:21

world. We're talking 95 now.

48:23

Princess Diana is announcing on

48:25

TV that landmines form a

48:27

structural barrier. to any development.

48:30

It is my sincere hope that

48:32

by working together we shall focus

48:34

world attention on this vital but

48:36

until now largely neglected issue. As

48:39

long as these devices are there

48:41

or there is suspicion of land

48:43

mines you can't really enter into

48:45

the land. Actually there was an

48:47

appeal worldwide for new detectors

48:50

sustainable in the environment

48:52

where they needed to produce

48:54

which is mainly in the developing

48:56

world. We chose rats. Now why

48:58

would you use rats? Rats

49:00

have been used since the

49:02

50s last century in all

49:05

kinds of experiments. Rats

49:07

have more genetic material

49:09

allocated to all faction

49:12

than any other mammal

49:14

species. They're extremely sensitive

49:17

to smell. Moreover, they

49:19

have the mechanisms to map

49:21

all these smells and to

49:24

communicate about it. Now how do

49:26

we communicate with rats? Well,

49:28

we don't talk rats, but

49:30

we have a clicker, a

49:32

standard method for animal training,

49:34

with which we can reinforce

49:36

particular behaviors. First of all,

49:38

we associate a clicksant with a

49:40

food reward, which is mashed banana

49:43

and peanuts together in a syringe.

49:45

Once the animal knows click food, click

49:47

food, so click is food, we bring

49:49

it in a cage with a hole,

49:51

and actually the animal learns... to stick the

49:54

nose in the hole under which the target

49:56

sent is placed and to do that for

49:58

five seconds, which is long. for a rat.

50:00

Once the animal knows this we make the

50:03

task a bit more difficult. It

50:05

learns now to find the target smell

50:07

in a cage with several holes, up

50:09

to 10 holes. Then the animal learns

50:11

to walk on a leash in the

50:13

open and find targets. In the next

50:15

step animals learn to find real

50:18

minds in real mine fields. They

50:20

are tested and accredited according to

50:22

international mine action standards just like

50:25

dogs. have to pass a test.

50:27

There's a number of minds placed

50:29

blindly, and a team of trainers

50:32

and their rats have to find

50:34

back all the targets. If the

50:36

animal does that, it gets

50:39

a license as an accredited

50:41

animal to be operational in

50:43

the field. Just like dogs, by

50:45

the way. Maybe one slight difference.

50:47

We can train rats at a

50:49

fifth of the price of a

50:51

trained demining dog. This is our

50:53

team in Mozambique. They have a skill,

50:56

which makes them much less dependent

50:58

on foreign aid. With this

51:00

small investment in a rat

51:02

capacity, we have demonstrated in

51:04

Mozambique that we can reduce

51:06

the cost price per square meter. If

51:08

we can bring in more rats, we

51:10

can actually make the output even

51:12

bigger. We have a demonstration

51:15

site in Mozambique. Eleven African

51:17

governments have seen that they

51:20

can become less dependent by using

51:22

this technology. They have signed a

51:24

pact for peace and treaty in

51:26

the Great Lakes region, and they

51:28

endorse hero rats to clear their

51:30

common borders of landmines. To conclude,

51:33

I would actually like to

51:35

say, you may think this is

51:37

about rats, this project, but in

51:39

the entity is about people. It

51:42

is about empowering vulnerable communities to

51:44

tackle difficult, expensive and

51:46

dangerous humanitarian detection tasks.

51:48

And doing that with

51:50

a local resource, plenty

51:52

of available. So something

51:54

completely different is to

51:56

keep on challenging your

51:58

perception about about the

52:01

resources surrounding you, whether

52:03

they are environmental, technological,

52:06

animal or human. And

52:09

to respectfully harmonize with

52:11

them in order to

52:14

foster a sustainable world.

52:16

Thank you very much.

52:22

That was Bart Witians. He

52:24

is an industrial engineer and

52:26

he founded the organization Apopo

52:29

25 years ago, which is

52:31

still clearing landmines with help

52:33

from rats in Mozambique, Angola,

52:36

Zimbabwe, and Cambodia. And they

52:38

are also training rats to

52:40

detect tuberculosis. You can find

52:43

Bart's full talk at ted.com.

52:48

Thank you so much for

52:51

listening to our show today.

52:53

Small but mighty. This episode

52:55

was produced by James Delahousie,

52:57

Katie Montelian, Fiona Guiren, and

53:00

Susanna Brown. It was edited

53:02

by Sanez-Meshkinpore, Andrea Gutierrez, and

53:04

me. Our production staff at

53:07

NPR also includes Rachel Faulkner-white,

53:09

Matthew Cloutier, and Hersha-Nahata. Our

53:11

fellow is Malvica-Dang. Our theme

53:14

music was written by Romteen

53:16

Arab-era-era-era Bluei. Josh Newell and

53:18

Joby Tenseco. Our partners at

53:20

TED are Chris Anderson, Colin

53:23

Helms, Anna Phelan, Michelle Quint,

53:25

Jimmy Gutierrez, and Daniela Balaorezzo.

53:27

I'm Anish Zamorote and you've

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