In classic experiments on frogs, scientists found that the amphibians’ urge to escape from dangerously hot water decreased significantly when the water temperature rose very gradually. 

In fact, sensitivity of many animals to temperature — including humans — is similarly affected by the rate of increase. Exactly why, however, has not been understood.

For microscopic organisms, bacteria are pretty smart. After all, some have outwitted just about every antibiotic ever developed. So the solution to their resistance likely won’t come in the form of new drugs. Hope may lie instead in a completely new direction: bacteriophages.

According to UC Santa Barbara chemist Irene Chen, these viruses, which infect and replicate within bacteria, may hold the key to new and more effective treatments of bacterial infections.