Two old plant medicines reveal their secret: they make the malaria parasite poison itself

Berberine and palmatine are natural compounds from plants used in traditional medicine for thousands of years, and scientists knew they could kill the malaria parasite — they just did not know how. A team led by researchers in New Delhi, with a collaborator in Nigeria, used the compounds' own natural glow to follow them inside the parasite. The answer is elegant: the parasite's own transport protein carries the compounds into its stomach-like compartment, where they stop it from safely packing away a toxic waste product of its meals. The leftover poison then kills it. Better still, berberine worked even harder against parasite strains that resist today's standard drugs — a hint that this old chemistry could inspire new medicines the parasite has never learned to beat.

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