In 1928, a chance contaminant in Scottish physician Alexander Fleming’s lab experiment led to a discovery that would change the field of medicine forever: penicillin. Since then, penicillin and other antibiotics have saved millions of lives. With one problem: the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Today on Short Wave, host <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1082526815/regina-g-barber"target="_blank" >Regina G. Barber</a> talks to biophysicist <a href="https://nano.huji.ac.il/people/nathalie-questembert-balaban"target="_blank" >Nathalie Balaban</a> about the conundrum — and a discovery her lab has made in bacteria that could turn the tides. Check out our episodes on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/02/05/1229167010/yellowstone-bacteria-hot-springs-microbes-relationship"target="_blank" >extreme bacteria in Yellowstone</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/1225172117/life-species-luca-ancestors"target="_blank" >the last universal common ancestor</a>.  Interested in more science behind our medicines? Email us your question at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by our showrunner Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Tyler Jones. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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These bacteria may be key to the fight against antibiotic resistance

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