"Ahhh," she says, inhaling deeply. "Smells like fish poop."

THE BASSLER LAB started out translating V. harveyi's communications, but now it's teasing apart the language spoken by the entire bacterial family tree. Several years ago, Bassler and her lab associates discovered that one of the chemicals V. harveyi uses to communicate is also used by hundreds of other species - in fact, by most species they've tested.

The chemical is known as auto-inducer 2 (AI-2), a rather bland, pedestrian name for a substance that could eventually cure cholera, strep, staph - any bacterial disease, anywhere in the world.

The potential that's there is why Bassler and the 18 students and employees who work in her lab spend hundreds of hours a week digging into the minute workings of AI-2 (and its cousins auto-inducers 1 and 3). And it's also why she's a scientific celebrity, the sort of scientist who, when appearing at conferences, inspires a chorus of whispers. Like V. harveyi when it's about to glow, people signal to each other, pointing and saying, "There she is: Bonnie Bassler. Should we talk to her? Let's talk to her."

A bit ironically - but only a bit - Bassler drinks from a coffee mug inscribed "Diva." She doesn't consider the label insulting; she embraces it. Diva behavior gets results. She's officially a genius now, thanks to the "genius grant" bestowed on her by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, so why not put the diva personality trait to work?