21 hours Ago By Justine Paradis, Outside/In
A snake wrangler holding a Russell’s viper, a highly venomous snake. A drop of venom is visible on its right fang. (Usman Ahmad on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.
0))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 MATERIALSHere’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 diseaseA 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)SUPPORTTo share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail.
The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support.
Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.CREDITSOutside/In host: Nate HegyiReported, produced, and mixed by Justine ParadisEdited by Taylor QuimbyExecutive Producer: Taylor QuimbyOur 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.An Indian Cobra displays its hood to scare away a threat.
(Keshav Mukund Kandhadai, Flickr (CC BY 2.0)).
