Three Cheers for Dr. Chicken and his Fungus Poop!

I encourage everyone to go check out this awesome paper that just came out in Science today. For those of you who don't know, Science is the biggest cheese journal for ALL fields of science whether you be a psychologist, archaeologist, physicist, geologist or about any -ist you can think of. This is THE journal. Being published in it is truly a once in a life time achievement for any scientist.

The aforementioned awesome-possum paper reports a synthesis of a molecule made in some cells, and the cells are in a a fungus, and the fungus lives on a sponge, and the sponge is on a rock, and the rock is on a reef, and the reef is down in the Caribbean-o.

I was lucky enough to wake up next to one of the authors of the article this morning and was able to interview him. "This molecule has been known for forty years," Dr. Chicken told me. "But for the longest time everyone who thought about trying to make it themselves, looked at its complexity and thought 'no efffin way.' "

One of the reviewers called this molecule "dastardly complex," but this tiny team of three was able to do it in amazingly few synthetic steps using some seriously fancy pants chemistry. "The sulfurs are baaad," says Dr. Chicken about one of his own key parts in solving this synthetic conundrum.

Now you may be asking, is the molecule useful for something? No one knows really yet. But it doesn't matter. The important part is that by developing the new tricks to make this molecule, they have opened up pathways for a whole family of similar molecules that may prove to be powerful pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Chicken assured me the fame and glory that surely will follow this publication will not give him "the mystical ability to put his pants on two legs at a time." We will be checking this to be sure.