We don’t often consider using do-it-yourself projects as a hedge against the apocalypse. But [The Thought Emporium] thinks we should know how to make penicillin just in case. We aren’t so sure, but we do think it is a cool science experiment, and you can learn how to replicate it in the video below.
If you want to skip the history lesson, you need to fast-forward to about the six-minute mark. According to the video, we are surrounded by mold that can create anti-bacterial compounds. However, in this case, he starts with a special strain of mold made to produce lots of antibiotics.
You may not have all the gear he uses, including a bioreactor to generate liters of mold. Even with a lot of mold, the yield of penicillin is relatively low. Since Purina doesn’t make mold chow, you’ll have to create your own food for the mold colony.
All the work he did wound up producing 125 milligrams of drug. Obviously, if you are going to save the post-apocalyptic world, you are going to need to scale that process up.
If you are the sole survivor, maybe your AI companion can help out.
Only until the apocalypse. As the song says, “When the states and the cities fall … Black power and alcohol [and penicillin].”
Black powDer, maybe? What you said is not quite the same :)
Blue bread mold, the story must be told, nothin’ keeps ya livin’ like the blue bread mold!
It’s been a while since I’ve run into a Leslie Fish reference in the wild!
Would it?
Its just mold.
… i say that ignoring the fact that mushrooms and weed are illegal in a lot of places despite growing readily even without intervention
Now for that pesky insulin … older patents are all in the public domain …
Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke
That’s inulin, missing the “s”. Fartichokes do not treat diabetes although may be a healthy dietary choice.
Haha fartichokes… ain’t that the gospel truth. I think the cure is to tie up a diabetic so they only eat those and stay away from the sugary cocktails and donuts and eventually achieve a normal metabolism again. Obviously only works with the vastly most common form of diabetes, not the congenital ones… but in the heckin’ epic SHTF TEOTWAWKI apocalypse, I suspect that form of diabetes would very quickly become rare no matter what you did
IMHO, also back to the willow bark, from whence the “original aspirin” was created.
It’s hard on the stomach, which is why the invented aspirin.
Just ask your friendly, local butcher for a couple hundred pounds of pancreases.
Now I can activate my allergy whenever I want!
Why would it be illegal?
Selling it, or administering it to someone would definitely be illegal. But making it?
And in specific circumstances, such as giving it to someone in an emergency to save their life, I don’t think the legality would matter. Such as in New Orleans right after Katrina, when emergency services were spotty.
Sigh, seems we have reached the point where doing anything helpful requires permission from the government(s)… And having a lawyer on hand is probably and excellent idea too.
Useful resource, adding this to my “Rebooting Modernity” files.