Welcome to BrainStuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

Hey Brain Stuff, Lauren Bogobom here.

Cone Snails are a group of around a thousand species of venomous predatory marine snails that live in shallow tropical waters around the globe.

Their pretty cone-shaped shells are intricately patterned and brightly colored,

apprised by seashell collectors, and their venom is fascinating to

biomedical researchers and science fiction writers alike.

A pretty high profile for a very slow, not particularly aggressive animal that

spends its days toddling after worms, fish, and other snails for dinner. For example, in the real world world their venom has been used in therapies from

diabetes treatment to terminal pain management and this is a little bit of a

deep cut but take the Jurassic Park film sequel, The Lost World.

In the movie, an air gun with venom darts is used to take down pesky dinos.

The active ingredient is purported to be an enhanced venom from the cone-snaile species

conus purposons, which the movie says is the most powerful neurotoxin in the world.

Before the article this episode is based on, How Stefork spoke with Helena Safavi,

an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah

who studies Constales and their venom.

She said, in the movie, who studies cone snails and their venom.

She said, in the movie, the venom is described as the most powerful neurotoxin in the world

that acts within one two thousandth of a second,

faster than the velocity of nerve conduction.

None of this is true, but nevertheless very entertaining.

Cone snails are very slow animals that cannot graze on algae like their non-bedemus snail relatives, but also have no means of mechanical

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