Everything is a chemical. That’s what fascinates me about life.
And every chemical in existence either occurred naturally, or was synthesised in a lab somewhere. There are many synthetic chemicals that have caused great harm – illicit drugs, for example – but there are also many that have been greatly beneficial (notably pharmaceuticals).
The same is true in nature. Just as it has given us deadly toxins such as thallium, it has also given us many beneficial chemicals as well. With this latter group, the trick is just finding them.
For example, the best immunosuppressant drug available at the moment, Tacrolimus, comes from soil, believe it or not! Pyrethrum insecticides originated with a chrysanthemum plant.
And now, a new class of chemical derived from marine bacteria is yielding extremely promising results for the prospect of a cure for cancer:
Luesch sprinkled Symploca extract on cultures of colon, bone, and breast-cancer cells, and they withered within hours, as though they’d been doused with Roundup; he did the same with healthy cells, and they survived virtually unscathed