This Could Be Love...

She is far more like Elon Musk. She is a radicalized person with an extreme amount of social and financial power, and for YEARS she has been using that power to try to influence her government into hurting vulnerable people, on purpose. And she has succeeded. THAT is the problem with her, and THAT is why spending money on her books is so dangerous, not because her books aged badly.

By using antibodies from a human donor with a self-induced hyper-immunity to snake venom, scientists have developed the most broadly effective antivenom to date, which is protective against the likes of the black mamba, king cobra, and tiger snakes in mouse trials. Described in the journal Cell, the antivenom combines protective antibodies and a small molecule inhibitor and opens a path toward a universal antiserum.

This guy Tim Friede wasn’t any kind of researcher or doctor. He was just a snake collector who thought it would be cool to try and become immune to snake venom by injecting small amounts and working up. For 18 goddamn years. He nearly died at least once.

Later, actual scientists heard about him and realized that since he survived his blood must be full of antibodies that neutralize many kinds of snake venoms. Using a sample of his blood they were able to develop an antibody cocktail that seems to be effective against many types of tropical snake bites, a sort of universal antivenom.