Venom is full of dualities. According to the UN’s World Health Organization, snakebite envenoming causes somewhere between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths per year, and even that is likely an undercount. Yet research into venom has yielded treatments for diabetes, cancer, erectile dysfunction, and even the celebrity favorite diabetes slash diet drug, Ozempic.
In this episode, we explore the world of venom, where fear and fascination go hand-in-hand, and the potential for healing comes with deadly stakes.
This is the second part of our “Things That Can Kill You” miniseries, which also explores poison and allergies (April 10).
Featuring Sakthi Vaiyapuri. Thanks to Iva Tatić for her question.
A full transcript of this episode is available here.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Here’s more on Sakthi Vaiyapuri’s community awareness programs in India and his team’s research on the socioeconomic impacts on rural populations in Tamil Nadu.
The UN’s World Health Organization’s fact sheet on snake envenoming as a high-priority neglected tropical disease
A great breakdown on why snakebite deaths are undercounted and the problem of missing data, written by global health researcher Saloni Dattani on Substack.
A Nature article on potential advances in antivenom
Check out this Science Friday film on the cool research on cone snails and the non-opoiod painkillers derived from their venom.
More on Ozempic and lots of other innovations with roots in venom research (New York Times)
SUPPORT
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CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Executive Producer: Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie.
Music by Hatami Tsunami, OTE, Lofive, Marten Moses, and Blue Dot Sessions.
