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Sun, 5th Aug 2007

Venoms and Toxins - Nature's Chemical Arsenal

This week, mind reading children, scientists find a new gene in the lung cancer cocktail, and satnav or map-nav - what's greener? Plus we become biological weapons inspectors and explore nature's arsenal of venoms, poisons and toxins, including a scorpion's sting that can highlight cancer, how funnel web spiders are helping farmers fight off insect pests, the marine cone snail that harbours a painkiller ten thousand times more powerful than morphine, and how a snake bite can help to prevent a heart attack. Meanwhile, in Kitchen Science, Ben samples a more everyday toxin - by making stinging nettle tea.

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In this edition of Naked Scientists

01:38 - Can your kids read your mind?
03:51 - Satnav receives environmental thumbs up

05:32 - Key gene in lung cancer cocktail
07:47 - A rash of new anti-HIV drugs

12:57 - Why are there so many chemicals in cigarettes?

We hear all the time about the 10s of thousands of chemicals in cigarettes, including things like formaldehyde, but why are they there? Would smoking straight tobacco be as harmful? If not, why aren’t cigarettes made that way? Is it the chemicals that smokers are addicted to o...
15:31 - What are the main components and causes of household dust?

What are the main components and causes of household dust?

17:01 - Scorpion's Sting Help Fight Cancer

Jim Olsen and his team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle have found a way to use scorpion venom to make a ‘paint’ which shows up cancer cells. This means that surgeons can be more certain that they are taking out an entire tumour, which can limit the da...
22:56 - Science Update - Sea Levels and Foxy Foxes

This week, Susanne and Bob look into the sex lives of Arctic Foxes and the effect of melting Polar ice sheets.

25:13 - Deadly Snails Kill Pain

Chris talks to Dr Bruce Livett about using the venom of cone shells to cure pain.
33:23 - Snakes - Venom, Antivenom and Medicinal Uses

We spoke to Gavin Laing, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicne, about why snake venom is so potent, how we could use it as medicine and how to make antivenom for those who do get bitten!

35:47 - How do you make anti-venoms?

I was wondering how they produce antibodies from venoms of snakes to make a anti-venom from it. And whether this is a long process or not.
39:13 - Spider Venom on Apples - Natural Insecticides

Robyn Williams, from ABC Radio National's 'The Science Show' speaks to Glenn King about finding natural alternatives for insecticides - in the venom of deadly spiders!

46:11 - Kitchen Science: Making Tea from Nettles

Ben finds out how to avoid being stung and make a great cup of tea at the same time.
54:04 - Octopus Arm Control

Does an octopus have one motor cortex with 8 sections, one for each arm, or just one brain to control them all?

Comments

Welcome to the forum! Karen W., Mon, 1st Oct 2007

I was really fascinated with spider venom used as a natural pesticide that has to be the way to go. Lazy_Genius, Mon, 1st Oct 2007

Although just because it is natural doesn't mean that it is going to be environmentally harmless. Each chemical should be taken on its merits wherever it came from. daveshorts, Mon, 1st Oct 2007

yes thats true, The guy seemed a little fuzzy on how it would effect friendly species too Lazy_Genius, Mon, 1st Oct 2007

i love nature

footballyears, Thu, 5th Nov 2009

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