Scientists are on their way to developing an effective antidote for botulinum toxin - one of the world’s most feared biological weapons. The researchers have developed a protein that blocks the effects of the toxin by tricking it into not attacking cells in the body. The protein acts on the most powerful of these seven toxins produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium, for which there is no medical treatment. The developed protein behaves as a decoy to proteins in the nerve cells, which means that the toxin chooses not to attach itself to the nerve cells when it enters the body, preventing paralysis.