A grazed knee. A cut while gardening. A routine hip replacement. For most of the past century, these were minor worries. But in a world where antibiotics stop working, any of them could turn deadly.

Drug-resistant infections are on the rise, and developing new drugs is difficult, expensive and slow. This has researchers looking beyond conventional medicines for new ways to fight harmful microbes.

One place worth investigating is surprisingly close to home: the nests of Australia’s native stingless bees.

In our new study published in PLOS One, we tested honey and propolis (a sticky resin bees build their nests from) from the tiny native bee Tetragonula carbonaria against 16 types of bacteria and fungi that can cause disease in people.

The honey stopped every bacterium we tested. The propolis was more selective, but it hit certain fungi remarkably hard.

A different kind of bee

Australia is home to 11 of the world’s roughly 550 stingless bee species. Tetragonula carbonaria is a small black bee found along the east coast, from tropical Queensland to temperate New South Wales.

For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have valued its honey, known as sugarbag, as food and medicine, including for itchy skin and........

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