ByAndrea Rainone•

June 4, 2026

Updated: June 4, 2026, 8:11 am EDTPublished: June 4, 2026, 7:49 am EDT

A new study suggests that climate change could be fueling antibiotic resistance in the soil beneath our feet. Antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s growing public-health challenges, making some infections increasingly difficult to treat. Now, new research suggests climate change could be contributing to the problem. In a new study published in Nature , researchers studied 11 years of experimental warming and found a nearly 24% increase in the abundance of antibiotic-resistance genes in grassland soils. This marks a potential new connection between climate change and the environmental spread of antibiotic resistance.