How aspirin was discovered - Krishna Sudhir
Check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/teded View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-aspirin-was-discovered-krishna-sudhir 4000 years ago, the ancient Sumerians made...
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4,000 years ago, the ancient Sumerians made a surprising discovery. If they scraped the bark off a particular kind of tree and ate it, their pain disappeared. Little did they know that why they'd found was destined to influence the future course of medicine. What the Sumerians had discovered was a precursor to the medicine known today as aspirin. Aspirin's active ingredient is found commonly in willow trees and other wild plants, which is how it came to infuse the medical traditions of Sumer, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and other cultures. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates, thought of as the father of modern medicine, first recommended chewing willow bark for pain relief and making willow leaf tea to ease the pain of childbirth. But it took ove...
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4,000 years ago, the ancient Sumerians made a surprising discovery. If they scraped the bark off a particular kind of tree and ate it, their pain disappeared. Little did they know that why they'd found was destined to influence the future course of medicine. What the Sumerians had discovered was a precursor to the medicine known today as aspirin. Aspirin's active ingredient is found commonly in willow trees and other wild plants, which is how it came to infuse the medical traditions of Sumer, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and other cultures. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates, thought of as the father of modern medicine, first recommended chewing willow bark for pain relief and making willow leaf tea to ease the pain of childbirth. But it took ove...
