 How do you make a better flu shot? It's a serious question. Thousands of people die from the flu every year, and scientists are getting more creative about preventing those deaths. One new solution? Go after a different part of the virus. The flu virus has proteins on its surface which are shaped like lollipops. They've got big complex heads atop skinny little stems. Most vaccines target variations in the head, but those vary widely. Now researchers are looking at ways to target the stem, or at least parts of it, which don't vary nearly as much. If the new approach works, it would give us a single shot that trains your immune system to take down every kind of flu. The flu vaccine might be like the ones we use for measles and mumps. A single shot once every few years that prevents against bird flu, swine flu, everything. There are similar vaccination projects for diseases as diverse as Ebola, dengue, chikungunya. They're even making vaccines for certain kinds of cancer. We're getting smarter about pumping up our own immune systems to fight off illnesses, and it could have major implications for the way these diseases work in the future. We're also getting better at spotting diseases early and doing something about it. Groups like the CDC and the WHO have a lot more information than they did in the pre-electronic age. That can make a huge difference when you're trying to stop an outbreak. It's not all good news though. At the same time that vaccines and surveillance are getting better, antibiotics are getting worse. A basic broad spectrum antibiotic only lasts until the bacteria evolve defenses against it. What we usually do at that point is just roll out a new kind of antibiotic, which buys a little more time. But right now our development pipeline is worryingly empty. There are already strains of gonorrhea, staph, and enterococcus that don't respond to most of our antibiotics. And honestly, that's just the beginning. What's worse, we're giving huge doses of antibiotics to animals that aren't even sick. That gives the bacteria more opportunities to mutate. This leaves us with kind of a weird future. Stronger vaccines may mean flu season packs less of a punch. But without antibiotics, even minor cuts can have fatal consequences. While we might be able to prevent some illnesses with vaccines, there aren't enough to supply the kind of protection we need to perform complex surgeries. And medical devices as basic as catheters could be death sentences for want of an antibiotic. Better vaccines are really good news. But unless we do something about our antibiotic situation, our future is going to be a lot sicker.