May 2, 2008
SIMPLY SCIENCE
It was science ... by accident
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Do you like to clean your room? Perhaps doing dishes is more to your liking. Well, the next time you have to do those particular chores, think about the scientist Dr. Alexander Fleming.
This amazing scientist did scientific research in the 1920s. His lab was not as “kept up” as some labs, and this actually turned out to be a good thing. As a result, he discovered something that has saved millions of lives.
What was the discovery? Well, it all started with an enzyme discovered by Dr. Fleming. Our body makes lots of enzymes (which are proteins), including some that help break down foods in our digestive system. The enzyme that Dr. Fleming discovered was one found in tears, which proved to have some antibiotic qualities (killing some bacteria).
Another discovery — the one for which he is known — came while he was cleaning up his laboratory. He had been trying to find something that would kill bacteria. He left some dirty containers in his laboratory sink that had bacteria in them. When he went to clean these containers, he found that a type of mold was growing on them (yuck!). But the mold had killed some of the bacteria! This was a kind of mold (a fungus) called Penicillium notatum. This mold, made into the drug penicillin, was then used as an antibiotic to help people with diseases caused by bacteria.
Antibiotics medicines work to kill or stop some bacteria from working. Some types of bacteria, one-celled organisms, can attack certain places in our bodies. Doctors may give a person a certain antibiotic for a particular kind of bacterial infection, like strep throat.
Another medicine discovered by accident is quinine, which helps a person who has malaria. This disease, common in parts of the world including Africa, is caused by a one-celled organism called Plasmodium. This nasty parasite gets in a person’s bloodstream (is transmitted) by the bite of an Anopheles mosquito. The mosquito is known as a vector, because it carries the parasites in its body and transmits the disease to a host, like a person.
Legend has it a South American Indian man suffering with a fever from malaria was in the jungle and drank water from a tiny pond. Some bark of some cinchona trees beside the pond seems to have been in the water, making it bitter; this bark was previously thought to be poisonous, but apparently helped the malaria fever.
It is believed that way back in the 1620s, the native peoples helped the Jesuit missionaries by teaching them about the bark from the cinchona or quina-quina tree. Medicines used today are made from quinine.
There are other discoveries by chance or accident, such as X-rays, insulin, some medical tests, as well as Edward Jenner’s vaccine idea in 1796. In any case, we can be thankful. There are also discoveries yet to be made! Perhaps other wonderful medicines like quinine might be waiting for us in the rainforests of the world … if the rainforests are not destroyed before we find them!
Question: What is the vector of and what is the parasite causing Lyme disease?
a.) mosquito; tick
b.) tick; mosquito
c.) tick; bacteria
d.) tick; protozoan
ANSWER: (c.) The blacklegged tick is the vector for Lyme disease; the bacterium is Borrelia burgdorferi.
Learn about Lyme disease at: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ and
read about more discoveries by chance at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cancer/discoveries.html#n01 .
Read about a
malaria foundation: www.malaria.org/
*As always, be sure to have your parents join you while you are online!
Mary K. Corcoran is a Connecticut science teacher, author of science books for children, and former National Park Service ranger.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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