Antibiotics are arguably the most consequential medical advance in history, and we are steadily losing them. We look at how antibiotics actually kill bacteria, why resistance is an inevitable evolutionary response rather than a surprise, and what a post-antibiotic era would genuinely mean for ordinary medicine.

You'll come away understanding why finishing a course matters, why antibiotics do nothing for a cold, and why the drug pipeline has largely dried up.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: World Health Organization AMR reports; Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (AURA); The Lancet antimicrobial resistance series.