00:02you've probably heard the phrase antibiotic resistant bacteria but you might not know the
00:07mechanism by which bacteria evolved to survive medical treatments some mesh with other bacteria
00:12combining to become more resilient while others simply mutate over time until some are able to
00:17survive and reproduce but now scientists are looking at a new way the microscopic pathogens
00:22are evolving to rally against modern medicine simply by changing shape researchers from
00:27carnegie mellon university university college london and the university of chicago recently
00:32introduced low levels of antibiotics into a bacteria population and over the course of just
00:3710 generations they found that the bacteria would physically change morphing from its classic
00:41looking straight form folding themselves into a c shape while surviving the antibiotic treatment
00:46the researchers believe that the wider shape provides more volume for the cell thus diluting
00:50the amount of antibiotics inside it the study's lead author shiladitya banerji said about the
00:55findings these shape changes enable bacteria to overcome the stress of antibiotics and resume
01:00fast growth what's even more curious after the antibiotic treatment was stopped the bacteria
01:05returns to their original shape after several more generations
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