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What causes antibiotic resistance? - Kevin Wu

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29,199 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

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Right now, you are inhabited by trillions of microorganisms. Many of these bacteria are harmless (or even helpful!), but there are a few strains of ‘super bacteria’ that are pretty nasty -- and they’re growing resistant to our antibiotics. Why is this happening? Kevin Wu details the evolution of this problem that presents a big challenge for the future of medicine.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Antimicrobial resistance statistics from WHO: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/e...

Antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus Aureus: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC15445...

How bacteria obtain antibiotic resistance: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/li...

SciShow video on super bugs and recent antibiotic research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-apdGwBPz4

Kevin Wu's science education YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmP3Q6kJy1Za80KOain53jw

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Kevin Wu
  • Animator Brett Underhill
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Narrator Pen-Pen Chen

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