We love to identify good guys and bad guys–in cartoons, movies, and nature. Nature’s good guys, for example, pollinate our crops. The bad guys are venomous animals that bite, sting, or even kill us with their poisons. But recent scientific discoveries by an Australian scientist revealed that the venom of a species of sea anemones contains 84 types of toxins, some of which might serve as the foundation for medicines that alleviate human pain.
Lauren Ashwood is the lead author of the study. She is a molecular biologist who carries out research at the Queensland University of Technology, the QUT.