Serendipity, error, and exaptation - how discoveries are made
Inventions and discoveries can come from a variety of different places. Many people would believe that discoveries are made in a pristine white lab or inventions are made by a dedicated person working tirelessly in their garage to see an idea come to life. While these scenarios can be reality, many inventions and discoveries are found by accident, sometimes in very messy ways. Discoveries can be serendipitous, exaptation, or made by mistake. An example of a serendipitous discovery is penicillin. In 1928, Alexander Fleming was studying staphylococcus, a type of bacteria. Fleming decided to take a break and go on holiday, but he left open a petri dish containing the bacteria. When he came back to his lab, he found that a blue-green mold had grown in the dish. The mold killed the bacteria in the dish due to the mold containing an antibiotic that is now known as penicillin. This powerful antibiotic could easily kill bacteria without being toxic to humans. Though this discovery was made by ...