Bacteria and antibiotic research
A lot (but not nearly enough) has been talked about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance; and the issue is compounded by the fact that we’re not doing a very good job at developing new antibacterial medication. And indeed there’s a lot of room for improvement in research methodology, corporate priorities, research incentives, etc.
But I often get the feeling that people talk about those issues like they’re the only thing preventing us from “winning” the war against bacteria; that the threat of a bacterial apocalypse hangs over us because we’re too dumb to fight them back properly. This seems to ignore a simple, basic fact: