Louise and the venomous snails
Sunday March 26, 2006; part of: Science without worms

This is wonderful! Our learned commentator has finally got her snails on air. These are carnivorous beasties which live on coral reefs. Now, if you're a snail, there is not much hope of running your prey down, or even following it if it is wounded. So you need poisons that will drop your victim dead at once, and these, delivered by a dart, are what cone snails have evolved. They are the most deadly and sophisticated neurotoxins imaginable. Because they attack so many different pathways in the victims' nervous systems, they can be disassembled to provide ingredients for all sorts of useful drugs. But enough of the grave and serious science. Killer snails are quite wonderful in themselves.

I would urge you all to listen to the programme when it goes out tomorrow. It might be nearly as much fun as hearing her tell the story in a pub.

Posted by andrewb at March 26, 2006 10:16 AM
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I've tried to persuade the woman to do a Producer's Cut, to include lost gems such as the 'volutes down the Y-fronts' incident as well as other things that manly Oz scientists do when they're out on the reef stuffing killer gastropods into items of clothing intended for below the navel. R4 isn't set up for such things, though.

At least, not yet... if she keeps up like this, who knows.

R

Posted by: rupert on March 26, 2006 12:03 PM

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