Spider Venom Pesticide

[Simon Hampel]

Spider Venom Pesticide (Catalyst, ABC1)

When many of us see a spider, our automatic response is to run away, especially if they’re big and hairy! Quite a natural reaction, given that spiders have evolved into such incredibly efficient killers over hundreds of millions of years.

However, our agricultural crops may soon benefit from a more eco-friendly and targeted pesticide, extracted from the venom of perhaps one of the most lethal spiders of them all – the Funnel Web.

[ame=http://www.abc.net.au/science/broadband/catalyst/asx/CatalystEp7SpiderVenom_hi.asx]Spider Venom[/ame]