Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Peter Andrey Smith

Peter Andrey Smith has written for The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Harper’s, Scientific American, Wired, New York, Modern Farmer, Gastronomica, and numerous other outlets.

The soil microbe Bacillus subtilis is ubiquitous, but one rare strain yielded scientific pay dirt.

One Girl’s Mishap Led to the Creation of the Antibiotic Bacitracin

Margaret Treacy was the namesake for a breakthrough medication