As bacteria become increasingly resistant to antibiotics and other antibacterials, there is a growing need for alternatives. In a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Tobias Warnecke and colleagues from the University of Oxford and the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom, identified untapped antimicrobials produced by archaea, single-celled organisms that make up one of the three domains of life (the other two being bacteria and eukaryotes, the group that includes us).