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Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness. With the growth of antimicrobial resistance, routine treatments could become impossible owing to the risk of infection. Cancer treatments, care of newborns and routine surgeries are all in danger if this trend isn’t curbed. Millions of people are already dying from infections by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In 2023, the World Bank estimated that antimicrobial resistance could increase health-care costs by US$1 trillion by 2050. So, researchers are urgently looking for solutions.

Some of these might come from surprising places, and this has led researchers to investigate organisms at the planet's extremes. Other scientists, however, have discovered a source of antibiotic-producing bacteria closer to home — at the grave of a faith healer.

Although some researchers have turned to traditional folk stories for clues in the search for new medicines, others have been using artificial intelligence to speed up the discovery process for antibiotics, to help deliver drugs into bacteria and to help physicians decide when to prescribe antibiotics to help prevent their overuse.

Together, this research could unlock new antibiotics and find ways to make them last longer, avoiding a future in which bacterial infections make a resurgence.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01424-9

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Antimicrobial resistance, a supplement produced with financial support from Meiji Seika Pharma. Nature maintains full independence in all editorial decisions related to the content. About this content.

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