Many substances people commonly use today come from plants, such as caffeine, nicotine, and morphine. A video highlights four plants that scientists use for medicine. It explains the way people discover, research, and use them, then goes on to cover the expense and side effects of each of the plants. Lastly, it briefly mentions the concerns people have with so many plant species going extinct before understanding their potential uses.

Concepts

medicinal plants, medicine, malaria

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Discuss why we try making synthetic substances rather than just growing more natural plants and extracting substances
• Connect this to even more common medicines from plants like aspirin and codeine

Classroom Considerations

• Remember the comment section is open to the public 

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Provides a large list of source credits for those that would like to go more in-depth
• Displays the structure of each chemical

Cons

• None