Inventing Healthy Humans Imagine covering a cut with cobwebs or being wide awake while the doctor takes your tonsils out If you lived 200 years ago either of these things could have happened to you Luckily we now have Band-Aids for cuts and scrapes and medicines that make us sleep through surgery Thanks to the inventions and innovations of doctors scientists and engineers we live longer healthier lives than ever before Inventors and innovators solve a problem or meet a need They are searching for solutions to many of today’s health problems More breakthroughs are coming and you could be the one to make them Today children can cover their cuts and scrapes with Band-Aids showing their favorite characters 4
Inventors and Innovators An invention is a product or process that has been made for the first time Inventor Dr Alexander Wood created the first syringe or needle for injecting medicine into patients bodies An innovation is a change or improvement on an existing invention Letitia Mumford Geer is an innovator She designed a new handle for syringes to make them easier to use An engineer’s job is to use science and math to solve problems or meet needs Sometimes engineers can also be inventors and innovators when they make new solutions or improve on existing ones Inventors innovators and engineers all share the same traits such as curiosity and creativity Over the years innovators have improved Dr Wood’s syringe above that he invented in 1853 5
The Speckled Monster For many years no one knew that germs cause disease Many people blamed diseases on bad air caused by rotting plants and animals They smoked or wore perfume to protect themselves from these dangerous smells Smallpox was one of the scariest diseases out there There was no cure and thousands died from it each year Doctors knew that milkmaids who had cowpox a disease carried by cows never caught smallpox In 1796 Dr Edward Jenner had an idea He discovered that giving cowpox to people would protect them from smallpox This was one of the first vaccines Because of his invention smallpox is now extinct Smallpox was often called the speckled monster due to the red bumps that appeared on the infected person 6
Because of Dr Jenner’s vaccination invention smallpox is now extinct Young Inventor Spotlight Anurudh Ganesan Vaccines are lifesaving but not everyone has access to them When he was six months old Anurudh Ganesan’s grandparents carried him 10 miles 16 km for a polio vaccine Because of the lack of refrigeration by the time they arrived the vaccine had warmed up and was ruined Luckily Anurudh survived but many others in similar situations may not have To help with this problem Anurudh invented the VAXXWAGON to keep vaccines at the right temperature It’s a portable refrigerator that hitches to a bicycle The refrigerator stays cold by pedaling the bicycle No ice or electricity is needed Because of Anurudh’s invention vaccines are available to many more people 7
