The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth – The Bacteriophage on HackerTube: recommended by 4 Hacker News commenters across 4 separate months, 2018–2026.
explainer · evergreen
An animated Kurzgesagt explainer on bacteriophages, viruses that kill bacteria, covering how they infect and burst cells and their potential as therapy against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
HN commenters link it whenever phage therapy or antibiotic resistance comes up, as an accessible overview.
“Relevant Kurzgesagt video explaining _everything_ about bacteriophage[1].”
8 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
Thank you very much. I google a bit and here in germany we are allready building a database and a stock of phagea for specific bacteria. They allready have over 1000 phages. They also have „phage cocktails“ for broadband. They also state your points. Thanks again. Here the link in german [link] And this video is rly interesting ▶ this video
in “Antidepressants help bacteria resist antibiotics” · View on HN
The latter half of a charming video by Kurzgesagt[0] talks about the tension between anti-bacterial resistance and bacteriophage defenses - we might be able to see-saw treatments based on what local microbes have adapted to. I only mention it as a tangent, and because your comment makes me think you'd be interested. [0] ▶ this video
in “Nanobots Can Swim Around a Wound and Kill Bacteria” · View on HN
Relevant Kurzgesagt video explaining _everything_ about bacteriophage[1]. I posted this a while ago, but since it's a video it didn't get much attention. [1]: ▶ this video
in “Using a virus to kill what antibiotics can’t” · View on HN
Kurzgesagt goes through bacterophages in this video: ▶ this video I think this is the case mentioned by Kurzgesagt in the video, although he doesn't use names, so I can't be sure. Super cool, anyways!
in “Phages are making a comeback” · View on HN
I have no idea if this is true, but I remember seeing in a Kurzgesagt video that developing phage resistance reduces antibiotic resistance, and vice versa. So you might corner bacteria by using both. ▶ this video
in “Venom and Hot Peppers Offer a Key to Killing Resistant Bacteria” · View on HN
The whole concept of phage therapy is somehow based on this: Bacteriophages inject DNA into specific bacteria that makes them copy the phage inside them until they burst open. Basically use viruses against bacteria. ▶ this video
in “mRNA vaccines – a new era in vaccinology (2018)” · View on HN
Bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) are particularly interesting, because we might be able to use them as targeted antibiotics: ▶ this video
in “Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter” · View on HN
Counterpoint: A recent Kurzgesagt video suggests that we may be able to deploy bacteriophages (bacteria-attacking viruses) to combat superbugs. ▶ this video Note: I'm not a doctor/biologist/etc., so I cannot comment on the details of this claim (e.g. how far away we are from a widely deployed phage-based treatment).
in “The Bugs Are Winning” · View on HN