The power of venom -- and how it could one day save your life | Mandë Holford

TED Health

TED

Health & Fitness, Fitness, Shoshana Ungerleider, Medicine, How To Be Healthier, Ted Shoshana, Ted Talks Health

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Venom can kill ... or it can cure. From killer sea snails to platypuses and slow lorises, marine chemical biologist Mandë Holford shares her research into animal venom and explores its potential to one day treat human diseases like cancer. Although the mechanism behind this powerful substance is still mysterious, someday, Holford says, "snail venom might just save your life."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective
0:07.6	This is Ted Health.
0:08.6	I'm your host, Dr. Shoshana Unger-Lighter.
0:12.9	Killer snails, heal monsters, poisonous palatopuses.
0:17.0	No, I'm not talking about villains in the latest superhero movie.
0:21.5	These are just a few of the usual creatures Venom scientist Mandy Hallford studies.
0:26.6	In her Ted 2020 talk, she shares how Venom has the potential to both kill and cure.
0:32.9	She explains how we could use it to treat human diseases, even certain cancers, and shares
0:37.9	why it's vital we protect the animals that produce it.
0:59.3	This season we'll explore how to fix your meetings, bust bureaucracy, and make the most out
1:03.7	of your breaks and vacations.
1:12.0	How does a sea snail catch a fish?
1:14.9	I mean, it's a snail, so it's slow, and the fish is not.
1:21.0	But yet, this happens.
1:23.8	Hidden under the sand is a cone snail, and that orange thing you see is kind of like a
1:28.3	tongue.
1:29.3	We call it a proboscis.
1:31.0	It uses that to track and subdue this unsuspecting fish.
1:37.1	In this predator-per-interaction, these are clearly not your garden variety as cargo.
1:42.6	These are assassins of the sea, and their weapon of choice is Venom.
1:49.2	Venom.
1:50.2	Like the Venom you find in Venom snakes and scorpions, these sea snails, they use their Venom
	...

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