Membrane permeability offers a weakness

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 Regina G. Barber talks to biophysicist Nathalie Balaban from Hebrew University about the conundrum — and a discovery her lab has made in bacteria that could turn the tides.


Check out our episodes on extreme bacteria in Yellowstone and the last universal common ancestor. 


Interested in more science behind our medicines? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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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.

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