I discovered why seemingly healthy amphibians were being wiped out

The mass deaths were puzzling scientists around the world - there were no signs of viruses or parasites. Then we looked closely at their skin

It was while we were sitting and talking in a hotel bar at the first global congress of herpetology that the world's amphibian experts realised there was a problem: frogs, toads, salamanders and newts were disappearing in their thousands around the world and nobody understood why.

Not a single talk at the 1989 congress at the University of Kent had discussed the strange disappearance of the world's amphibians. But scientist after scientist had the same story: from Central America to Australia, they were vanishing.