The recent attack on Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent has triggered a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee. A huge clean-up effort by specially trained troops has also been launched to minimise any remaining risk in Salisbury. Back to your biochemistry classes! These are organophosphorus or carbamate compounds that inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase at nerve synapses. This causes the neurotransmitter acetylcholine to build up, …