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QUIRKY SCIENCE (EP. 8)
EP. 8. Throughout the history of mankind - the business of curing, of understanding and treating disease, has taken a rather peculiar path. Some procedures have proven to be very efficient while other methods could only have made things worse for the patient. Up to the 16th Century ‘treating’ someone could mean diminishing one of four bodily fluids, paving the way for bloodletting. As it turns out, modern science proves that bloodletting does help in rare cases. In fact, bloodsucking leeches are excellent helpers to cure wounds. We now know that one little creature is the cause for many diseases: bacteria. But until the mid-19th century, many felt that such tiny organisms such as germs could not possibly kill larger ones such as humans. After all, we can’t even see them with the naked eye! How then, did we discover them? Thanks to one doctor who decided to take a good look …between his teeth. Since then, we have found a cure for most bacterial infections in the form of Antibiotics. This was accidently discovered by Alexander Fleming - whilst leaving the office for a holiday, he left a culture plate smeared with his personal nasal mucus on his lab bench only to find that mould surrounding this mucus actually inhibited its growth. In the new millennium, this discovery of such a ‘Superdrug’ is threatened by the advent of the ‘Superbug’. Have these cures led to bacteria becoming more tolerant and harder to kill? What else will the future bring? A cure against the flu?
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EP. 8. Throughout the history of mankind - the business of curing, of understanding and treating disease, has taken a rather peculiar path. Some procedures have proven to be very efficient while other methods could only have made things worse for the patient. Up to the 16th Century ‘treating’ someone could mean diminishing one of four bodily fluids, paving the way for bloodletting. As it turns out, modern science proves that bloodletting does help in rare cases. In fact, bloodsucking leeches are excellent helpers to cure wounds. We now know that one little creature is the cause for many diseases: bacteria. But until the mid-19th century, many felt that such tiny organisms such as germs could not possibly kill larger ones such as humans. After all, we can’t even see them with the naked eye! How then, did we discover them? Thanks to one doctor who decided to take a good look …between his teeth. Since then, we have found a cure for most bacterial infections in the form of Antibiotics. This was accidently discovered by Alexander Fleming - whilst leaving the office for a holiday, he left a culture plate smeared with his personal nasal mucus on his lab bench only to find that mould surrounding this mucus actually inhibited its growth. In the new millennium, this discovery of such a ‘Superdrug’ is threatened by the advent of the ‘Superbug’. Have these cures led to bacteria becoming more tolerant and harder to kill? What else will the future bring? A cure against the flu?