Nanorods

In a move akin to puncturing an egg yolk without breaking the shell or egg white, researchers have figured out how to pierce the nucleus of a cell without hurting the rest of the structure. The breakthrough could be big news for medical treatments.

Phages, viruses that thrive by infecting bacteria, have long been mooted as a potential replacement for antibiotics, but they pose risks due to their own rapid evolution. New research suggests it may be possible to mitigate their risks.

While not quite as significant as the one-time accidental discovery of penicillin, 2016 did have its share of chance findings in the scientific community. Here we take a look at five of them.​