While wandering around a website I visit sometimes, I noticed an article that discussed a possible fish-killing toxin that helps kill cancer cells(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091002104022.htm). At a facility in North Carolina, scientists there noticed that many of their fish were dying for some unknown reason. They contacted fellow scientists to see if they could discover the cause for this. Analyzing the pond that the fish lived in, they found two types of algae in the pond that they had originally considered not to be harmful.
After more tests, the scientists found a toxin that was released by the algae which is called euglenophycin. Though this toxin if found to be fatal to fish, it has shown to slow cancer cell growth or kill cancer cells all together. This is a truly amazing feat! If it has shown to kill cancer cells, tumors may be able to be reduced and eliminated in the future.
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This reminds me of another story I read sometime back about the venom of a certain poisonous snake in Australia. They initially found the venom of this snake causes human blood to coagulate, which of course resulted in multiple organ failure and death. But since this finding, they are researching a way to make this into a medical spray for accident victims. This would be a tremendous live-saver for many people, especially for dismemberment victims and other serious wounds. A spray that would instantly clot up the blood to prevent further bleeding!
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