The sludge under the lab bench looks like leaf litter soup. Vials of brown, ochre, and reddish pollen extracts clutter the surface above. Beside them, a foil-covered beaker contains an herbal broth. It’s cloudy, like a bit of raw egg white left out overnight.
To biologist Jing-Ke Weng, that mess is a treasure — a rich source of potential medicines to treat cancer, perhaps, or insomnia, or blood disorders.
