In 1993, when Meri Moken got recognized by various institutions for her research work on the effect of detergents on bacteria, a lot of her work was actually a reflection of a broader spectrum of research that had started as early as the 1960s. What Meri essentially discovered was the resistance of bacteria to household detergents and bleaches – a subset of the age-old capability by bacteria to adapt to harmful chemicals. Her discovery illuminated the ever-burgeoning problems that pathogens present: that, over time, they become harder to eradicate, as any chemicals used against them become ineffective.