They say that the new year is a good time to express gratitude.

So here's what I am most grateful for right now.

My health.

For much of last year, I was sick.

It started in the spring with a cough that turned into a respiratory infection.

That turned into a whole other thing. And for a few months,

I was miserable. It hurt to talk or swallow. Every time I laughed, it would trigger a coughing

fit, which is a problem because I like to laugh. Thanks to the cough, I couldn't sleep

through the night. I also had some ferocious night sweats and

crazy dreams. During the day, my entire body ached like I'd been hit by a car. Also, no appetite,

no energy. Physically, it was the worst few months of my life, But at least I got a story out of it.

This one.

Today's episode is about penicillin.

You may remember the famous story of how penicillin was discovered accidentally.

Nearly 100 years ago by Alexander Fleming.

This was at St. Mary's Hospital in London.

Fleming was just returning from

holiday. In his lab, he had left behind a petri dish where he'd been culturing bacteria,

and he found some mold growing in the dish. Interestingly, where the mold grew, the bacteria did not.

It turned out that this mold juice, as Fleming called it, could kill many

types of bacteria, not just the one growing in that petri dish. Penicillin was eventually used

to treat strep throat, meningitis, dental infections, gonorrhea, and much more. It came to be

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