The 2015 Nobel prizes: Physiology or medicine

DESPITE what the romantic poets would have you believe, the natural world is not a friendly place. It is full of dangerous creatures, and some of the most dangerous are the smallest: the bacteria, viruses and parasites that between them debilitate and kill millions of people every year. But it is possible, with a bit of cunning, a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, to turn a bit of nature against itself—to humanity's benefit. And it is for exactly this sort of work that Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2015 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.

The three winners are William Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Tu Youyou. Drs Campbell and Omura were honoured for their discovery of avermectin, a drug that kills the parasitic worms responsible for river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, which between them infect about 125m people worldwide. Dr Tu—who originally trained in traditional Chinese medicine—discovered artemisinin, a drug that helps kill the parasite that causes malaria. Around 200m people are thought to be infected with malaria, and about half a million die each year.