How can mold be used for medicine?
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From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Moment of... Moment of Um comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Joy Dolo. I host Forever Ago, the history podcast for kids that dives into incredible and sometimes unexpected stories. I love learning about the past. My hunger for history and my yearning for learning cannot be tamed.

Which is why I've snuck into this episode of Moment of Um. It's time for Joy's Moment of Undercover. No, wait. Joy's Super Stealthy Stories.

I'll work on it. Anyway, the year was 1928. A scientist named Alexander Fleming had just returned from a lovely vacation and was getting back to his research. He was studying dishes full of bacteria that cause seriously yucky sore throats and other infections. But he'd accidentally left some of these dishes lying around when he left.

and mold was growing in one or two of them, just like when you accidentally leave bread out on the kitchen counter for too long.

Fleming noticed that the bacteria samples in the dishes were growing everywhere except for the spaces around the blobs of mold. Something about the mold was killing the bacteria, and he realized that this might be a new kind of medicine, which is wild, right? How the heck does mold become medicine? Etta asked us about this too, so let's find out from an expert. ♪

Hi, my name is Christine Solomon. I'm a faculty member in the Center for Drug Design in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota.

And I'm a researcher and a scientist, and I study microbiology, which is the science of tiny things. And I'm also a chemist. So we study things like fungi and bacteria, which are microscopic organisms that live in really unusual places. And they make lots of really cool molecules. And so...

Me and my students in my lab, we go out into the field, which might be a cave underground, and we collect soil and other samples, and we isolate these microbes, and then we try to figure out what chemicals they make and how we might use them

Probably the best known example of finding medicine in fungi is the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin in 1928 by Dr. Alexander Fleming. And he found that a penicillium fungus accidentally was growing on a petri dish that had some pathogenic bacteria on it.

A petri dish is a small, clear glass dish that microbiologists use filled with different nutrients that we put in that will allow the growth of different microbes. And he saw that this penicillium mold, it was like a green mold colony on his plate, seemed to be stopping the growth of these bacteria on the plate. And it took many, many years for

for chemists to figure out what exactly was the chemical compound that this penicillium fungus was making that was killing these bacteria. And penicillin is still used as one of the most common antibiotics for bacterial infections. And some of the other important drugs that have been found from fungi are the statins. So statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs. Those were first discovered from a fungus

A really common hypothesis is that fungi are making some of these compounds to maybe compete for nutrients in the environment, or they're trying to fight off other bacteria or even other fungi or protozoans in the soil where they're trying to protect their nutrients or their space. Um, uh,

Okay, so there are tons of different types of mold. Some kinds can make us sick, like if we eat moldy food, and some don't hurt us at all. Some kinds of mold happen to make certain chemicals that are useful for humans, like penicillin. That's a chemical that mold makes that happens to kill bacteria, the one that Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered by accident. And it's become a super important antibiotic medicine for treating all kinds of infections in humans.

Wow. Who knew that a moldy science experiment would have such an important place in history? Ooh, somebody's coming. That's it for Joy's stealthy secret, secret history time. Um, okay, I'll work on the name. Gotta go! ♪

If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe to Moment of Um wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you want to learn more about the fungus among us, check out the Brains On podcast where we have a whole episode all about mushrooms and mold. Want to see our shows come to life? Head to YouTube where we've got awesome animated Brains On episodes. Search Brains On Universe on YouTube and subscribe.

If you have a question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. Moment of Um is produced by Molly Bloom, Rachel Breeze, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Ruby Guthrie, Mark Sanchez, Anna Wagle, Nico Gonzalez-Whistler, and Aaron Woldeslassie.

We had editing help from Shayla Farzan and Sandin Totten, and engineering help from Alex Simpson. Our theme song is by Mark Sanchez. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman. The executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks this week go to Matt Katz and Christine Solomon. See you next time, and the next day, and every weekday. Until then... Um...

It's time for Joy's moment of undercover story. No, the name's too long. It's time for Joy's moment of be quiet. It's time for history. Hey, friends. Molly, Sandin, and Mark here with some very big news. Drumroll, please. Drumroll.

We're hitting the road in search of adventure, fresh air, and you. That's right. We're going to be live at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, April 27th. Our science-themed live stage show takes the audience on an adventure through the brain, complete with magic tricks, dance moves, out-of-body experiences, mystery sounds, and a game show. Molly, you almost left out the most important part.

Yeah, Molly, don't forget the big party. Oh, right. After the shows, we're throwing a brain-tastic bash. Join us afterward for a VIP party where we'll play games, guess mystery sounds, pose for photos, and give as many high fives as humanly possible. Snag a spot by purchasing a VIP pass when you buy your show ticket. Oh, that reminds me. I've got to start training. These hands aren't going to high five by themselves. Five and five. Good idea.

And remember, spots are limited, so grab your tickets today at brainson.org slash events.