Moldy Cure

After the week I’ve had, I thought I might be deep-thoughted out…but here I am!

This may be a bit on the strange side, but I think that penicillin has got to be one of the more interesting junk creations.  I mean, it’s made from mold!

The condensed version of the discovery of Penicillin is below:

Fleming, at his laboratory in St. Mary’s Hospital (now one of Imperial College’s teaching hospitals) in London, noticed a halo of inhibition of bacterial growth around a contaminant blue-green mold Staphylococcus plate culture. Fleming concluded that the mold was releasing a substance that was inhibiting bacterial growth and lysing the bacteria. He grew a pure culture of the mold and discovered that it was a Penicillium mold, now known to be Penicillium notatum.  (”Penicillin” from Wikipedia)

How many people would have decided that mold was a good way to go for treatment of disease?  Way to go, Fleming!