If you took off your skin and laid it flat, it would cover an area of about 1.9 square meters, making it by far the body’s largest organ. Covering almost the entire body, skin protects us from a variety of external forces, such as extremes of temperature, damaging sunlight, harmful chemicals, and dangerous infections. Skin is also packed with nerves, which keeps the brain in touch with the outside world. 

   The health of our skin and its ability to perform its protective functions are crucial to our well-being. However, the appearance of our skin is equally – if not more – important to many people on this planet. Take skin color for example. Your genes determine your skin’s color, but for centuries, humans have tried to lighten or darken their skin in an attempt to be more attractive. In the 1800s, white skin was desirable for many Europeans. This color meant that its owner was a member of the upper class and did not have to work in the sun. Among darker-skinned people in some parts of the world, products used to lighten skin color are still popular today. In other cultures during the 20th century, as cities grew and work moved indoors, attitudes toward light skin shifted in the opposite direction. Tanned skin began to represent leisure time and health. In many places today, sun tanning on the beach or in a salon remains popular, even though people are more aware of the dangers of UV rays.     Just as people have altered their skin color to show wealth or beauty, some cultures around the globe marked their skin to indicate cultural identity or community status. Tattooing, for instance, has been carried out for thousands of years. Leaders in ancient Egypt, Britain, Peru and other places wore tattoos to demonstrate their social importance or bravery. Today, among the Maori people of New Zealand as well as cultures in Samoa, Tahiti, and Borneo, full-facial tattoos are still used to identify the wearer as a member of a certain family and to symbolize the person’s achievements.

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       When little children get hurt, the first thing they usually ask for is a Band-Aid to make their wounds feel better. However, have you ever wondered what people used to cover wounds before Band-Aids were invented? Band-Aids have only been around since the 1920s, but people have been getting hurt for much longer than that. How people treated their wounds in the past may come as a surprise. In addition to cloth bandages, people often covered and cured their wounds with cobwebs.

       Cobwebs are made by members of the spider family called Theridiidae. These spiders do not spin typical webs that look like concentric polygons. Instead, these spiders spin a random, sticky, crisscrossed net in which they trap their prey. Most people associate cobwebs with a messy house mainly because of the dust that gathers on the adhesive strands of cobwebs. Yet, although it might appear untidy, the presence of cobwebs does not suggest an unhealthy space. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Many types of cobwebs are laced with penicillin, fungi that contain antibiotic properties. Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, came across the fungi when working with a colleague’s cobweb collection.

      When the cobwebs containing penicillin came into contact with some bacteria samples, the growth of the bacteria was stopped, and the bacteria samples died. The discovery of penicillin for use as an antibiotic changed the face of modern medicine because it helped treat many serious diseases. That explains why cobweb bandages were known for generations as a medical cure. Not only did the webbing help to coagulate the liquid on the wound, but it also contained penicillin, a powerful antibiotic that aided in the healing process. By using cobwebs to cover wounds, people with injuries were using antibiotics without even realizing it.

       Cobwebs appear in the stories of many cultures. These days, cobwebs are used as spooky decorations in Halloween scenes or bring a sense of frustration during people’s spring-cleaning. Next time, when you reach up to clean a dusty crevice, try not to feel frustrated but remember such a medical treasure tangled in your broom.