In Hollywood, actor Keanu Reeves has thanked researchers for the “surreal” honor of having a deadly but useful molecule named after him.
Fungus-killing keanumycins were so named by the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology as an homage to John Wick, an assassin pulled out of retirement to hunt down a puppy killer that Reeves—an action genre mainstay—has expertly portrayed for several installments.
According to iflovescience, a popular blog covering quirky developments in science, Reeves reacted to the honor in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” post: “…Hi, thank you…they should’ve called it John Wick…but that’s pretty cool…and surreal for me. But thanks, scientist people! Good luck, and thank you for helping us.”
Potential applications for keanumycins, which are produced by bacteria and biodegradable, include crop protection and healthcare.