Vampire Bat Venom and the Israeli Deathstalker Scorpion

RSR host Fred Williams is joined by Ryan Williams to finish their run-through of the latest creation magazine, and to talk about a New York Times article on “Deadly Venom From Spiders and Snakes May Also Cure What Ails You”. One of the most promising venom-derived drugs to date comes from the deadly Fraser Island funnel web spider of Australia, whose venom treatment halts cell death after a heart attack. Other examples include the Israeli Deathstalker Scorpion that has a compound in clinical trials that finds and illuminates breast and colon tumors, and vampire bat venom appropriately called Draculin that is an anticoagulant used to treat stroke and heart attack. The venom of snakes and insects is a cocktail of 1000s of components where harnessing certain proteins give you high selectivity and affinity for various targets such as membrane receptors, enzymes, or hemostatic pathways, providing a virtual library of medicinal treatments for various ailments. The two RSR hosts also talk about an animal that turns into a wheel, the earth's sci-fi force field, and conclude the show by exposing the weaknesses of Michael Oard's arguments against the dam breach theory for the Grand Canyon.