The steroidal neurotoxin (-)-batrachotoxin functions as a potent agonist of voltagegated sodium ion channels (Navs). Here we report concise asymmetric syntheses of the natural (-) and non-natural (+) ...

The endangered golden poison arrow frog Phyllobates terribilis lives in the rain forests along the northern Pacific coast of Colombia. Its skin contains batrachotoxin, a lethal poison that prevents ...

If you were viewing a list of the world’s most poisonous animal species, you’d be hard-pressed not to see a poison dart frog on it. Although they’re small, just 2 inches fully grown, they contain ...

Poison dart frogs lace their bodies with deadly toxins to deter hungry predators. But how do toxic animals avoid poisoning themselves? The answer might lie with ‘toxin sponges’. The lethal molecule ...

A team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Stanford University, and the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) has uncovered new clues as to how poisonous frogs and ...

New Guinea is home to some of the world’s most toxic birds. Why they contain poison, and how they withstand it is still a source of scientific mystery. The variable pitohui, a poisonous bird, captured ...

Researchers from Denmark have found two new species of poisonous birds in New Guinea—the regent whistler and the rufous-naped bellbird. These birds store batrachotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin, in their ...