6 Ethnobotanists discover new medicines by learning from indigenous healers. He learned from the Sami people of Lapland. 10 Willow, foxglove, poppy, and periwinkle are but a few of the plant sources of modern miracle drugs. A sidebar traces the long journey of a drug from laboratory to market. For more than 30 years, he explored the rain forest of Brazil - living with 16 tribes, studying plants, and looking for medicines.
Prance worries about the loss of rain forests and plant species.
This short, fictional drama traces the history of the malaria drug, quinine. In Samoa, bats called flying foxes are the primary pollinators and seed distributors for the large rain forest trees. Hunting threatens the survival of these diurnal mammals. The tale involves timber companies, environmentalists, the medical community, drug companies, and the federal government. The story's happy ending teaches a lesson in biodiversity.