Accidental Discoveries in Medicine

Accidental Discoveries in Medicine Over the years, there have been many new advances in technology, food, and medicine. While things like the computer, the internet, and television were found to an extent on purpose; there have been a number of accidental discoveries in these areas as well. When thinking of accidental discoveries in the modern world, one may struggle to come up with anything. This could be that people are not educated with the origin of every-day items that are taken for granted. Take for example the chocolate chip cookie. The owner of the Toll House Inn was baking chocolate cookies when she ran out of baking chocolate. Still wanting to make the cookies, Mrs. Wakefield improvised and broke semi-sweet chocolate into chunks, thinking the chocolate would melt and mix together with the batter. Little did she know that the chocolate would not mix in, thus producing the popular chocolate chip cookie. Other accidental discoveries whose origins may not be well known include Viagra, potato chips, brandy, the microwave, Teflon, and the artificial sweetener cyclamate. There have also been many important discoveries made in the world of medicine, including penicillin, insulin, and the X-ray. Insulin, though not a cure, has saved millions of lives and will continue to help those who suffer from diabetes. Insulin, a hormone which regulates the body’s blood sugar, is comprised of a simple protein of 2 amino acid chains. Insulin regulates the level of sugar in the blood. After eating a meal the body’s blood sugar rises. Insulin is then secreted from the pancreas, lowering the blood sugar to a normal level. When the level of blood sugar is low, insulin secretion is halted and glucose is released into the blood stream by the liver. A lack of insulin production leads to a disorder called diabetes mellitus, known simply as diabetes. People with diabetes have an increased level of glucose in their urine, thus increasing the amount of water in the

Cited: Discovery of Insulin. http://www.discoveryofinsulin.com/Home.htm The Time 100: Alexander Fleming. Dr. Ho, David. March 29, 1999. http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/fleming.html Penicillin. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect21b.htm W.C. Roentgen and the Discovery of X-rays. Peters, Peter. http://www.medcyclopaedia.com/library/radiology/chapter01.aspx Insulin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin X-ray. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray X-ray History. http://www.lixi.com/xray.htm Diabetes Statistics. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics.jsp