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The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth – The Bacteriophage

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

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  • Recommended by 4 people, in Hacker News, across 4 different months.
  • May be out of date. Uploaded 8 years ago, in an area where guidance changes.

For anyone, no background needed. Education, not medical advice.

35M views8 years ago4 recommendations

Immunity and infectionMedicines and supplementsInfectious diseaseDrug development and trials

Kurzgesagt explains how bacteriophages attack bacteria and how they could be used as an alternative to antibiotics to fight superbugs.

A war has been raging for billions of years, killing trillions every single day, while we don’t even notice. This war involves the single deadliest being on our planet: The Bacteriophage. Created with scientific advice and editing by James Gurney. OUR CHANNELS ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ German Channel: kgs.link/youtubeDE Spanish Channel: kgs.link/youtubeES HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ This is how we make our living and it would be a pleasure if you support us! Get Merch designed with ❤ from kgs.link/shop Join the Patreon Bird Army 🐧 kgs.link/patreon DISCUSSIONS & SOCIAL MEDIA ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Reddit: kgs.link/reddit Instagram: kgs.link/instagram Twitter: kgs.link/twitter Facebook: kgs.link/facebook Discord: kgs.link/discord Newsletter: kgs.link/newsletter OUR VOICE ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ The Kurzgesagt voice is from Steve Taylor: kgs.link/youtube-voice OUR MUSIC ♬♪ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 700+ minutes of Kurzgesagt Soundtracks by Epic Mountain: Spotify: kgs.link/music-spotify Soundcloud: kgs.link/music-soundcloud Bandcamp: kgs.link/music-bandcamp Youtube: kgs.link/music-youtube Facebook: kgs.link/music-facebook The Soundtrack of this video: Soundcloud: bit.ly/2IcLhRp Bandcamp: bit.ly/2IiETnI Facebook: bit.ly/2GIoZlH 🐦🐧🐤 PATREON BIRD ARMY 🐤🐧🐦 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Many Thanks to our wonderful Patreons from kgs.link/patreon who support us every month and made this video possible: Luca Perfetti, Ramkumar Ranjithkumar, Dan Albert, Bryce, Gregor Gatterer, Benjamin Schrank, Zsuzsanna Goodman, Dale Wahl, Richard, Bruno Mikuö, Josh Villars, Richelle Swinton, WeedyGreen, Turrabo, Nirup Nagabandi, Kevin Kohler, Travis Decaminada, Levi Mauk, Jack McCluskey, Jonathan Lucas, Clemens P¸hringer, Chloe Arvidson, Jason Brady, Germain Wessely, ROBERT MELTON, Rodrigo Acevedo, Kathleen Kintz, Wrekuiem, Michael Hoffman, Nikhil Verma, Darragh Chan, Kinorian, Rohith Rao, Ryan Thomson, Alberto Amigo, Matt Bodsworth, david bibb, Harrison Frede, Joseph Ricks, Taylor Smith, Ilya Tsarev, Mohammad Farzam, Tazia, Sarah Turney, Sammy Binkin, Brian Michalowski, Jiayuan Xu, Thomas Hair, Alexander Simmerl, Sven Rauber, Graham Fenech, Lumi, Stanimir Neroev, Michael Massen-Hane, Arikazei, Aakash Sapre, Sandra Giuliani, Eischen, Edznux, Alex Friele, Alexandru Dimofte, Clayton Ackroyd, Aran J‰ger, Kristiana Sevastjanova, Nadine Gantner, art haschak, Von Schifferdecker, Michael Tabron, Riley Kennedy, JP Michaud, Timo Kohlmeyer, Xavier dupont, Felipe Medeiros, Malte Brendel, Michael Newbon, Hadar Milner, Peppie T Help us caption & translate this video! youtube.com/timedtext_cs_panel?c=UCsXVk37bltHxD1rDPwtNM8Q&ta… The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth – The Bacterio

Why it's here

4 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as an engaging explanation of bacteriophages and their potential use in phage therapy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

emilgain Hacker News • Recommends

On “Phages are making a comeback”

Kurzgesagt goes through bacterophages in this video: link to 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!
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amingilaniin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Using a virus to kill what antibiotics can’t”

Relevant Kurzgesagt video explaining _everything_ about bacteriophage1. I posted this a while ago, but since it's a video it didn't get much attention. 1: link to this video
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burnishedin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Nanobots Can Swim Around a Wound and Kill Bacteria”

The latter half of a charming video by Kurzgesagt0 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 link to this video
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bratwurst3000in Hacker News • Recommends

On “Antidepressants help bacteria resist antibiotics”

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 link to this video
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majewskyin Hacker News • Mentions

On “The Bugs Are Winning”

Counterpoint: A recent Kurzgesagt video suggests that we may be able to deploy bacteriophages (bacteria-attacking viruses) to combat superbugs. link to 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).
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p1mrxin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter”

Bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) are particularly interesting, because we might be able to use them as targeted antibiotics: link to this video
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Valgrimin Hacker News • Mentions

On “mRNA vaccines – a new era in vaccinology (2018)”

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. link to this video
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Intralexicalin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Venom and Hot Peppers Offer a Key to Killing Resistant Bacteria”

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. link to this video
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