In 1933, a farmer brought a mysteriously dead cow to the UW lab of young biochemist Karl Paul Link. In solving this enigma, Link and others created both a life-saving drug and an effective poison for pests called warfarin. 

Doug Moe tells this unlikely tale and more in a new biography, Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin. The story traces Link’s life from humble beginnings to the labs where he made medical history.