In Kenyan cow dung, a fungus new to science is making molecules medicine has never seen

It sat in cow dung on the campus of Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya, doing what dung fungi do — fighting off rivals in one of nature's most crowded neighbourhoods. Now researchers have described it as a species entirely new to science, Schizothecium keniense, in the journal MycoKeys. It is the first member of its genus ever studied for its chemistry, and the payoff was immediate: a molecule never seen before, named pyrrospirone Z, alongside related compounds that showed antibacterial activity in lab tests. Nothing here is a medicine yet. But with older antibiotics losing their punch, scientists say overlooked dung fungi are exactly the kind of place where the next drug lead could be hiding.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation