Scientists using artificial intelligence have discovered a new antibiotic that can kill a deadly superbug. According to a new study published on Thursday in the science journal Nature Chemical Biology, a group of scientists from McMaster University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a new antibiotic that can be used to kill a deadly hospital superbug. The superbug in question is Acinetobacter baumannii, which the World Health Organization has classified as a "critical" threat among its "priority pathogens" – a group of bacteria families that pose the "greatest threat" to human health. According to the WHO, the bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to resist treatment and can pass along genetic material that allows other bacteria to become drug-resistant as well. A baumannii poses a threat to hospitals, nursing homes and patients who require ventilators and blood catheters, as well as those who have open wounds from surgeries.

MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant staph infection that can be deadly for those in hospital care or with weakened immune systems.

A team of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (MNHS) Department of Infectious Diseases, the Faculty of Information Technology (IT) and The Alfred's Department of Infectious Diseases have been awarded $3.4M from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) for the SuperbugAi Flagship project. With the focus on superbugs during World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (November 18-24), the innovative project will integrate genomics, electronic healthcare data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to address antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare system. The research, which will be mainly based at The Alfred, will also create a tracking and response system which will lead to earlier detection of superbugs, personalised treatment for patients and prevention of outbreaks. SuberbugAi has the potential to save patient lives, prevent superbug spread, and improve healthcare quality, resource use and costs. Lead researcher, Professor Anton Peleg is one of The Alfred's leading physician-scientists and is internationally recognised for his work in antimicrobial resistance.

One of the seminal texts for anyone interested in technology and society is Melvin Kranzberg's Six Laws of Technology, the first of which says that "technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral". By this, Kranzberg meant that technology's interaction with society is such "that technical developments frequently have environmental, social and human consequences that go far beyond the immediate purposes of the technical devices and practices themselves, and the same technology can have quite different results when introduced into different contexts or under different circumstances". The saloon-bar version of this is that "technology is both good and bad; it all depends on how it's used" – a tactic that tech evangelists regularly deploy as a way of stopping the conversation. So a better way of using Kranzberg's law is to ask a simple Latin question: Cui bono? With any general-purpose technology – which is what the internet has become – the answer is going to be complicated: various groups, societies, sectors, maybe even continents – win and lose, so in the end the question comes down to: who benefits most?

Indeed, most people working in healthcare believe it is a sector that will benefit most from AI technologies. In addition to innovations such as AI-assisted robotic surgery, cloud technology is already being used to back up documents and photos. However, AI data analysis comes with its own challenges, due to ethical concerns regarding a huge number of legacy systems containing highly sensitive data. Despite this, healthcare industry trends prove that AI has a valuable role to play. It can improve quality of care, reduce costs and speed up procedures.

With advances in stem cell research and nanotechnology helping us fight illnesses from heart disease to superbugs, is the fusion of biology and technology speeding us towards a sci-fi future - part human, part synthetic? In Ridley Scott's seminal blockbuster Blade Runner, humanity has harnessed bio-engineering to create a race of replicants that look, act and sound human - but are made entirely from synthetic material. We may be far from realising that sci-fi future, but synthetics are beginning to have a profound effect on medicine. At their state-of-the-art laboratories in Hong Kong, scientists from Canadian company Novoheart are using stem cells to create bio-artificial hearts the company calls "hearts in a jar". From just 2.5ml of your blood, Professor Ronald Li and his team are able to create stem cells that can then be turned into a miniature "clone" version of your heart that beats like yours and reacts to new drugs the way yours would.