Antibiotic Apocalypse

Antibiotic Apocalypse

From Radiolab by WNYC Studios

March 27, 2026 · 1h 1m · Episode 686

About this episode

Avir Mitra explores the alarming threat of antibiotic resistance in a live show format.

Doctor and special correspondent Avir Mitra takes Executive Editor Soren Wheeler, plus a live studio audience, on a journey from the operating room to inside the body to the farm to the sewers and back again—searching for answers to an alarming threat to humanity’s existence as we know it: antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This live show, performed in New York City and also in Little Rock, Arkansas, is part of a series we’re doing with Avir that we are calling “Viscera.” Each event is a conversation that takes the audience on a journey into a quirk or question or mystery inside of us, and gives them a visceral experience of the viscera within us. The previous installment of the series was called “The Elixir of Life.” (https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-elixir-of-life)Special thanks to all of Little Rock Public Radio (especially Grace Zafasi and Jonathan Seaborn), Thomas Patterson, The Greene Space staff, CALS Ron Robinson Theater, Tom Philpott, Stephen Roach, Kate Shaw, Alex Wong, Maryn McKenna, and Kerri McClimen.If you are a patients or a doctor, and you are interested in phage therapy, please contact IPATH@ucsd.edu EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Avir MitraProduced by - Jessica…

People in this episode

Host: Soren Wheeler

Guest: Avir Mitra

Topics covered

  • antibiotic resistance
  • health
  • bacteria
  • medical treatment
  • live performance

Keywords

  • antibiotic resistance
  • healthcare
  • bacteria
  • phage therapy
  • live show

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Little Rock Public Radio, CALS Ron Robinson Theater, IPATH

Books & works: Viscera, The Elixir of Life

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