Caterpillar

Baby caterpillars have figured out how to get themselves the royal treatment in certain ant colonies – getting carried around like precious cargo, fed on demand, guarded and being rescued from danger – by posing as queen ants.

The route to discovering remarkable medicines has often been a fortuitous one. Now, researchers are hoping that another surprise find, once again linked to bacteria, can be harnessed for its medical potential and even be used to destroy cancer cells.

Biologists working at Canada’s Brandon University have made an exciting discovery, zeroing in on the mechanisms that enable a common species of caterpillar to survive on a diet of plastic alone.