Last week I blogged about the unique properties of cone snail venom. Now take a took at that venom put to use:
I wish I could slow it down enough to see the moment where the snail impales the fish with the venom barb, but its too quick.
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Holy crap.
I get up on this holiday morning, and what is the first thing that I see when I check out the ScienceBlogs most recent posts, but a bunch of posts on Pharyngula, Pure Pedantry, Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge, and Evolving Thoughts, The Scientific Indian, and Afarensis?
Steve…
Well, I suppose that blows that whole "moving at a snail's pace" thing out of the water. That's pretty slick, though.
If you are really interested in this stuff, you should see if your department might be interested in inviting Baldomero ("Toto") Oilvera, the guru of cone snail venom, to give a seminar. He is a great speaker and a truly nice guy.
I'd love to see that in super-slow motion, with a digital clock running, so we could see for ourselves the harpoon speed and the venom speed.
Or, perhaps, invite the "The Great Kohnus" himself, Alan J. Kohn, prof emeritus of the U. Washington, upon whose research all of this is based. He is also a good speaker, and genuinely nice guy.