A state secret leak is helping to solve the Skripal poisoning

When the Skripals were hospitalised, it was soon clear that they had been exposed to a nerve agent. A month after the poisoning, the nerve agent was found to be novichok. Many nerve agents work by blocking an enzyme that breaks down the chemical messenger acetylcholine. It was likely identified by isolating the blocked enzyme from the Skripals’ blood and looking at the chemical structure of the molecule that had bound it.