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In 2012, the World Health Organisation classified colistin, the most widely used polymyxin, as being critically important for human health. But that didn't stop farmers around the world, especially in China, from using large quantities of colistin to fatten up pigs and chickens. Now Yi-Yun Liu at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou and colleagues have discovered the first known resistance gene for colistin that is able to move freely from one bacterium to another.

7:23 video Are we entering the post-antibiotic era? Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise, with millions of infections reported every year and thousands of deaths. How does antibiotic resistance work? How did we get here? And what can we do in the future to make sure that papercuts don't spell a death sentence?

10:04 video, Don't panic! But you should really know about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, aka super bugs. They're here, and they're doing very well, thank you. SciShow explains what they are, how they're getting around our best drugs, and what science (and you) can do to help.