The discovery of insulin led to a controversial Nobel Prize in 1923

Leonard Thompson was the first human to receive an insulin injection for diabetes

In January 1922, the 14-year-old was the first person to receive an insulin injection to treat diabetes, just months after insulin was isolated in dogs and used to treat their induced diabetes. Thompson had an allergic response to an apparent impurity in the injection, but his second dose, 12 days later, was a success.

See the first dog ever treated with insulin—a peptide

Frederick Banting and his graduate student Charles Best were the first to isolate the peptide insulin from dogs. They induced diabetes in the animals and then treated them with this peptide.

An overview of 200 years of diabetes treatment

Diabetes treatment became truly effective after the advent of insulin injections in the early 1900s. Diabetes is becoming increasingly common. Current trends estimate one in three Americans will have diabetes by 2050. This overview explores two centuries of diabetes treatment—starting in 1812—and outline potential challenges to treatment and prevention.

Understanding insulin

Scientists Daniel and Kelly talk with researcher Dr. Katrine Whiteson about diabetes, the history of insulin production, and Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff—an essential member of the team who discovered that bacteria could be induced to produce insulin. Listen to discover interesting facts about the life-saving medicine and how it works in the human body.

Penicillin’s pioneers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945

Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing penicillin.

Peptide research dates back to the late 1800s

Peptide science dates back to the late 1800s with some early peptide synthesis work, but peptides took off in the medical sphere after surgeon Frederick Banting and his colleague's isolation of insulin from dog pancreases in 1921.

Type 1 diabetes is an inherent autoimmune disorder inhibiting insulin production

Diabetes causes the body to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, causing a shortage or lack of insulin. This prevents the body from accessing and storing blood sugar—the brain and muscles' primary energy source. It's unclear what causes Type 1 diabetes, an incurable yet manageable chronic condition as of 2024.

How Nobel Prize-winning research unraveled why the immune system doesn't always attack itself

The 2025 Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered how immune system soldiers are typically stopped from attacking healthy tissue. The work furthered autoimmune understanding and cancer therapies.

Despite the rules, a Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded posthumously

Ralph Steinman, whose work revealed how dendritic cells activate immune responses, passed away just days before being named a Nobel laureate. Although Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, the committee made an exception because they believed he was alive at the time of the decision.

Learn the history of food science breakthroughs from the 20th century

Long after humans developed the means to produce sufficient food to feed civilizations, scientific research focused on a wide variety of objectives, such as developing methods to preserve food quality (accomplished via frozen food), speeding up cooking (leading to the microwave), and lowering the cost of sweetening food, which high fructose corn syrup provides.

Jonas Salk developed the first successful polio vaccine—and tested it on himself

The American medical researcher developed the inactivated virus vaccine from 1952 to 1955 and proved that it could prevent disease. He tested the virus on himself and his family in 1954 and then carried out formal clinical trials on more than 1.3 million children.

See how antidepressants were discovered

The decadeslong journey to the three major types of antidepressants began with medications designed to treat other maladies. Watch to learn more about how attempts to treat tuberculosis and blood pressure disorders led to new insights about neural chemistry and mood.

GLP-1s are netting interest for treating autoimmune diseases, but are considered experimental

Already used to treat type 2 diabetes, the novel medications are showing some early promise in experimental studies at reducing inflammation and treating autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions. But researchers caution that side effects are still under investigation—rarely the medication has caused lupus, an autoimmune disease.

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and later used his fortune to fund peace prizes

Nobel stabilized dangerous nitroglycerin to create dynamite, revolutionizing construction and mining in the 19th century. Despite his success with explosives, he was deeply disturbed by their destructive potential and redirected his legacy toward rewarding human progress.

Marie Curie's research in radioactivity made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize

Overcoming social and academic barriers, Curie's realization that radiation resulted from an intrinsic property of atoms reframed scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Her subsequent work in discovering two new elements—polonium and radium—earned her a second Nobel Prize.

How scientists earned themselves a Nobel Prize by discovering what destroyed ozone

In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland showed that chlorofluorocarbons—then used as aerosol propellants, refrigerants, and industrial solvents—rise into the stratosphere and, upon being struck by ultraviolet radiation, release chlorine atoms, which break apart ozone molecules. Their work earned them the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995.

A man with organ failure used AI to speed discovery of his miracle drug

David Fajgenbaum had a few months to live after a diagnosis with a rare form of Castleman's disease. By studying his blood, medical records, and broader literature, he was able to identify the cause of his condition and a treatment. He's been in total relapse for ten years.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Diphtheria was once a leading childhood killer before antibiotics and vaccines

In 18th- and 19th-century outbreaks, some New England families lost as many as eight children to diphtheria, and fatality rates in hospitals often topped 60%. The invention of antitoxins, penicillin, and vaccines dramatically reduced deaths.

Teddy Roosevelt was given a daily dose of saccharin

America's 26th president was prescribed a sugar-free diet by his clinician, so when the chief chemist for the US Department of Agriculture approached him with concerns about the product's safety in the early 1900s, the duo clashed over how to regulate it.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Read the original 1907 paper on the first known Alzheimer's patient

Alzheimer's disease was first identified by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901, following a postmortem brain examination of a patient experiencing memory loss and other symptoms. Alzheimer's original paper was largely lost until 1995, when an English translation was published in a medical journal.

Watson's book was described as misleading when detailing Franklin's role in DNA

Despite working together to win the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the structure of DNA, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins objected to the publication of James Watson's account of DNA's discovery. Those involved describe how he villainized Rosalind Franklin and downplayed her work.

How Seabiscuit's DNA made him a winner

Seabiscuit's sudden success in the sport has been framed as a classic against-the-odds sports story. One Binghamton University molecular physiologist wanted to go a bit deeper, though, to see how much genetics played a role in the horse's legendary career. Using the horse's silvered hooves, his research team discovered that Seabiscuit's genotype was typically associated with late bloomers, a finding confirmed by the horse's track record.

In 1892, two scientists purposefully infected themselves with cholera bacteria

When they became ill—one with mild diarrhea and the other with severe cholera—researchers pointed to that as proof that the pathogen caused the disease.

A brief history of human blood groups

The blood group that determines whether you have type A, B, AB, or O blood was discovered near the turn of the 20th century. This short academic article dives into three main theories about the evolution and emergence of blood groups, the exact nature of which remains unclear.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.