Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/240655
the year: 1928 Text Lina Törnquist Photo Istock, Volvo TECHNOLOGY Yo-yos and penicillin 1928 saw breakthroughs that illustrated the possibilities of the modern era. Notably, the first television broadcast was made in February that year. Then, in late September, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming noticed a clear area around a mold where the colonies of bacteria appeared dissolved. The discovery turned out to be penicillin, one of the greatest medical advances of the 20th century. 30 DRIVER 'S DIGEST #1/2014 Fleming would later say that the discovery of penicillin was entirely accidental. "I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, but I suppose that was exactly what I did." The year also saw the introduction of another technical breakthrough that defined the era: pre-sliced bread. As more bread was being produced in factories in the '20s, bread had become fluffy, soft and difficult to slice, so the invention answered a new need in the industrial age. With bread an important staple, the invention even became a kind of "small, edible promise of a better world," according to a historian covering the era. By the 1950s, Americans were praising their favorite inventions as "the best thing since sliced bread". The year also saw the first mass production of the "yo-yo", a favorite toy among children to this day.