A molecule from the slime of a colorful Indian frog kills some flu strains and could provide a promising route for new treatments. 
 
 In a study published today in the journal Immunity, researchers caught the Indian frog Hydrophylax bahuvistara and collected their skin secretions after mildly electrocuting them. (Don’t worry, the animals were returned to their natural habitat.) They then isolated several molecules from the secretions and tested them on human blood cells until they found one, called urumin, that killed flu viruses while not hurting the cells. Finally, they vaccinated mice with urumin and found that it protected them from a lethal amount of the H1 flu virus, the same strain responsible for the 2009 pandemic. We’re not quite at a frog slime vaccine yet, but it’s a first step toward a new way to fight the virus that doesn’t involve traditional antibiotics. 
 
 Frog mucus contains peptides, or short chains of amino acids. In today’s study, first scientists screened 32 frog peptides against various flu strains, and found that four of them could fight off the virus. But when the researchers put these peptides in a dish with human red blood cells, three of them killed the blood cells by punching holes in their cell membranes. So that’s out. 
 
 The fourth — urumin — was safe and killed flu viruses. (It’s named urumin after a whip-like Indian sword called the “urumi” which is from Kerala, the same region as the frog.) By using an electron microscope, the researchers saw that urumin completely destroyed the flu virus by binding to a specific protein found in many strains of flu. This makes it versatile, though not a cure-all: it didn’t work against a modern strain called H3N2. 
 
 Still, urumin could be promising when current drugs don’t work anymore. I, for one, am ready for my frog mucus treatment. ||||| A martial artist uses a multi-bladed Sri Lankan variation of a traditional urumi. (Photo: Angampora/CC BY-SA 3.0) 
 
 Whips are the coolest weapon, just ask Indiana Jones. Of course, someone like Ned Stark would say the same thing about his sword. But the Indian martial art of Kalaripayattu has both of them beat with the urumi, a sword that acts like a whip. 
 
 The urumi hasn’t regularly been used as an actual weapon for generations, but even as a demonstration weapon, it is still incredibly dangerous. Especially to the user. 
 
 The urumi (which can be translated as “curving sword,” and is also known as a “chuttuval”), hails from southern India. The historic weapon was saved from the erasure of time when it was incorporated into Kalaripayattu martial arts, an Indian fighting style that is considered one of the oldest in the world. Incorporating elements of yoga and performative dance, Kalaripayattu movements look like violent but graceful choreography. Urumi fighting is no different, it is just far more dangerous to those who would attempt to learn the skill. 
 
 Sparring with dual-bladed urumi. (Photo: Zzvet/Shutterstock.com) 
 
 Like any sword, the urumi comes in a number of varieties, with a variable length, and even a variable number of blades, but they all follow the same basic construction. Usually simpler than more elaborately decorated sword weapons, at its simplest, the urumi consists of a hilt connected to a thin, flexible steel blade. The handle is usually protected by a crossguard and knuckle-guard. The long blades extend somewhere between four and six feet in length (or even longer in some cases), and around an inch in width, but the aspect that makes the weapon unique is that the steel is always thin enough to flop around. Almost like a cartoon-version of a rubber sword. 
 
 Given the urumi’s unique construction, wielding it is also an art unto itself. Since the flexible blade is no good for stabbing, it is slung around similarly to a traditional leather whip. In order to make continuous strikes with the weapon, it must stay continually in motion so that the momentum which gives the blade its slashing power is not lost. This usually requires the user to swing it over and around their head and shoulders in furious arcs. 
 
 While this makes the urumi incredibly hard and dangerous to use, it also provides it with one of its major benefits as a weapon. When the blade curves around the sword wielder in quick arcing slashes, it creates a defensive bubble of flying metal that an opponent would be reckless to get close to. In addition, it makes a terrific weapon for defending against multiple opponents, both by providing a good barrier at a number of angles at once, and for the long, wild attacking arcs the steel whip provides. 
 
 Urumi sparring incorporates small buckler shields that are used to deflect direct swings of the weapon, but when the urumi was used in actual combat, it was said to have had the added benefit of curving around the edges of enemy shields, landing cuts even when blocked. 
 
 As an added bonus of having a wildly flexible blade, the urumi could be tightly rolled up for easy travel and concealment. In fact, it has often been worn as a belt. 
 
 Of course all of this versatility comes at a price. As you can imagine, winging metal whips around your delicate face flesh at high speeds can easily result in a missing nose, or other mishap. Wielding the urumi correctly and safely takes years of training, learning techniques for everything from bringing the blade to safe stop, to altering the rotation of your swings without slicing your arm off. 
 
 In the hierarchy of Kalaripayattu weapons training, the urumi is usually taught last due to the high degree of difficulty in wielding the weapon. Sometimes, students begin their training using a piece of cloth instead of the metal blade, so that they can master the intricate moves of the urumi before picking up any steel, learning a graceful flow and rhythm to their swings. 
 
 That’s a long urumi. (Photo: SukhwinderSinghNihangSingh/CC BY-SA 3.0) 
 
 All of this training is required to wield an urumi that has only one blade, however many variations of the weapon have multiple steel belts radiating from the handle like a slashing flog. Without question, the more strands on a given urumi, the more difficult it becomes to wield, but the more deadly it becomes to the opponent. According to one source, there was a Sri Lankan version of the urumi that had 32 blades, and was usually double-wielded, with one in each hand, although evidence of this is hard to find, and also… seems like suicide. 
 
 While use of the urumi is today relegated to demonstrative bouts by Kalaripayattu masters, the weapon still springs up in popular culture from time to time. The weapon can be found in tabletop roleplaying games like Pathfinder, and urumi-wielding warriors can be summoned as troops in the 2007 strategy game Age of Empires III: The The Asian Dynasties. There was even a 2011 Indian historical drama called, Urumi, which prominently featured the main character using the weapon. 
 
 It might not be as popular as Indy’s whip or Ned Stark’s broadsword, but the urumi is too badass to die. 
 
 Correction: The caption of the header image has been changed to reflect that the weapon pictured is a Sri Lankan variant of the urumi. Also, a reference to the birthplace of the urumi has been changed from “the Indian state of Tamil Nadu,” to ”southern India.”
– Kissing a frog may not conjure a prince, but mucus from one colorful Indian variety could one day lead to new ways to fight off the flu, the Verge reports. A study published in the journal Immunity details how scientists tested secretions from an Indian frog known as Hydrophylax bahuvistara and found that one distinct peptide was able to kill certain strains of the influenza virus without simultaneously decimating human red blood cells, as well as protect mice from the H1N1 strain. That molecule, called urumin, is named after the Indian "urumi" sword that looks and acts like a whip and is found in the country's Kerala region, which is also where this particular frog hails from. The scientists involved in the study first collected mucus from the frogs by applying slight electrical shocks to them, which causes them to secrete the substance, Phys.org notes. From there, the researchers were able to pit 32 peptides in the mucus against various flu strains and discovered that four of the peptides were effective flu fighters, a significant statistical find that co-author Joshy Jacob says nearly caused him to be "knocked off my chair." However, three of those molecules also destroyed human red blood cells, leaving just the urumin, which attached itself to a protein in the H1N1 strain called hemagglutinin. The urumin clung to the hemagglutinin as it set to work attacking the virus. The molecule doesn't appear to be a flu panacea—it didn't effectively fight off a current strain called H3N2, for example—but the researchers note its "potential to contribute to first-line anti-viral treatments" in an increasingly drug-resistant environment. (What doesn't work so well to fend off the flu: nasal spray vaccine.)