Pyroptosis is a form of non-apoptotic death typically observed in immune cells. Hett & Hung show that the protein kinase PKR is required to induce pyroptosis in response to anthrax lethal toxin. They figured this out by first finding a new small molecule inhibitor of death (7DG) in a large-scale phenotypic screen and then showing that it binds to PKR in pull-down experiments. PKR kinase activity itself is dispensable for death, surprisingly. Cool approach and findings.