Aussie medical researchers turn to venoms to save lives
Australia’s killers are world famous from its deadly snakes & spiders to the box jellyfish & blue-ringed octopus, but our legendary line-up of venomous creatures (and plants) are actually at the forefront of great hope for break-through drugs and specific disease treatments.
Michael is joined by science journalist Wilson da Silva, regarding his latest Australian Geographic article that takes a look behind-the-scenes of the expert teams looking to crack the code of various venoms to help save lives.
As a result, many of these people go out of their way to get their hands on very dangerous animals.
“Venom is becoming increasingly attractive to medical researchers, and it’s easy to see why,” says Mr da Silva.
“De-coding the complexity of venom helps scientists to better understand how the human body works, and to tweak our internal machinery to correct problems, fight disease and improve health.”
Download this podcast here