Antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Phages, viruses that thrive by infecting bacteria, have long been mooted as a potential replacement for antibiotics, but they pose risks due to their own rapid evolution. New research suggests it may be possible to mitigate their risks.

One of humanity’s biggest threats is also the smallest – bacteria. But now, researchers at RMIT in Australia have found a new method for killing these superbugs that they can’t resist – magnetic nanoparticles that physically tear them to shreds.

Researchers at Rice University have developed a new method to kill emerging superbugs, using molecular “drills” to pierce their cell walls. The same technique has also been shown to work on cancer cells.

One of the most alarmingly plausible (and overlooked) doomsday scenarios is the rise of the superbug, bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. But now, scientists have found a new potential treatment – and it was hiding in our skin the whole time.

Researchers at Northeastern University have discovered a new antibiotic called darobactin, hiding in the gut of a tiny, soil-dwelling, parasitic worm. Tests on mice have so far proved promising against gram-negative bacteria.

Researchers have analyzed a weapon that bacteria use to kill each other – a toxic "crossbow bolt" – which could inspire new antibiotics.

For the first time, scientists in Australia have observed bacteria shedding their protective shells and changing shape to escape detection by antibiotics.

A new study has discovered administering an antibiotic with a specific compound found in green tea can effectively kill a notoriously antibiotic resistant bacteria.

A new long-term study has found high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wild dolphins, with rates growing over the last decade.

Deadly, drug-resistant forms of K. pneumoniae bacteria are spreading. Thankfully a new vaccine has shown promise in tests on mice.

Researchers at Imperial College London have found that a high-priority superbug resists drugs by closing its pores.

Humans are currently locked in an arms race against pathogenic bacteria – and we’re losing. Now scientists have identified the genes responsible for antibiotic resistance in a particularly dangerous superbug, and found a way to thwart them.