In 2020, the Band-Aid — those seemingly flimsy bits of adhesive and cotton found in every medicine cabinet in America — will turn 100 years old.
In that time span, the medical field has grown by leaps and bounds. Penicillin was discovered in 1928, ushering in the era of antibiotic medicine. In 1980, smallpox was eradicated from the earth.
This is all to put in perspective the fact that when you open up your medicine cabinet, the adhesive bandages better known by the brand name Band-Aid, are still very much the same as they were in 1920.
They’re still just bits of adhesive and cotton.
But even the simplest things can’t resist innovation forever. Scientists and doctors have been tinkering at the next step forward in bandage technology, looking for improvements.