Resistance

In 1929, Alexander Fleming published his first observations of penicillin under a microscope. A sloppy technician, he’d returned from holiday to find a fluffy, white mass growing on his staphylococcus culture – and decided to observe it. Through the microscope, he saw the penicillin inhibiting the staphylococcus, and postulated medical applications in his paper.

 

Public Domain via Nadya_il (Pixabay)

Performing dogs and molecular roulette

Performing dogs

 

Performing dogs take nerve-settling beta-blockers. Habj

How do we make new chemicals?

It was a question James Black asked himself in 1964 (or perhaps a bit before then), when he developed a new approach to molecular synthesis, and thus discovered propranolol hydrochloride – the compound that won him the 1988 Nobel Prize for Medicine.

An unexciting-looking chemical, it’s just two fused benzene rings and a side arm, but it’s been used to alter mood, easing aggression, phobias, and improving the social skills of people on the autism spectrum. It is used to treat PTSD, and commonly to ease performance anxiety amongst musicians and performing dogs.