The discovery of a previously unknown endocrine system in the 1990s was to change the face of human biology for ever. Science finally had answers as to why tumours grow, hormones attack the body and some people’s pain levels are off the scale. The ramifications of manipulating such a system were vast, illnesses like epilepsy, autism and cancer could become a thing of the past.

Its revelation shocked physicians across the globe, as this medical marvel adapted and conformed under the direction of one of nature’s most ancient medicines. Named after the plant that mimics,...