Cosmos
Cosmos is a quarterly science magazine. We aim to inspire curiosity in ‘The Science of Everything’ and make the world of science accessible to everyone.
By Cosmos
A mysterious substance was brought to a pill testing clinic in Canberra, and they couldn’t figure out what it was.
Pill testing is for people who choose to take illegal drugs and want a better idea of what they’re taking, but it’s not always easy to figure that out.
On this episode of The Science Briefing, Ellen Phiddian takes Dr Sophie Calabretto though how this strange drug – dubbed ‘CanKet’ – was delivered to the lab, and how testers go about identifying what’s in a mystery substance.
Explainer: How chemists identify mystery substances – from drugs at pill testers to final structure
The Science Briefing is a LiSTNR production