Scientists Found a Miracle Drug in Easter Island’s Soil. The Natives Never Saw a Dime.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:Some of the world’s greatest breakthroughs are found in the most unlikely places, including the soil of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. The island of Rapa Nui—also known as Easter Island—is one of the most “middle of nowhere” places on the planet Earth. However, Rapa Nui is also home to another famous export, this one medical in nature—an immunosuppressant drug called (fittingly) rapamycin. When Medical Expedition to Easter Island (METEI), led by a Canadian research team, arrived on the shores of Easter Island in December 1964 with an honorable goal—to understand what could happen to the island’s health with the arrival of its first international airport. During this expedition, scientists retrieved 200 soil samples, one of which contained the Streptomyces bacterium that produces rapamycin.