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Chuck Kristensen was just a biologist who thought the spider was getting
a bad rap. Few are poisonous, their bites are rarely fatal. And so as a hobby, Chuck
decided to investigate what spider venom was all about.
To do so, he had to devise a way to extract it. Which he did. But other scientists, who
had never succeeded in extracting sufficient quantities of pure venom, were soon placing
so many orders that Chuck was doing nothing but supplying venom.
Biotech labs use spider venom to block specific channels in the brain,
research that may someday help victims of epilepsy and stroke. Another possibility Chuck
sees are biological insecticides—harmless to all but the one species they are designed
to kill.
Although Chuck knew his research would certainly contribute to
science, he only suspected that it might help people. That was fine with Chuck. He
believes that if you if you investigate anything, you may not always get the answer you
expect, but it will always will take you somewhere.
A major research lab has just hired Chuck to do just that. He'll be asking questions like,
why are spiders virtually free of disease?
As long as everyday scientists like Spiderman Chuck Kristensen are
asking these kinds of questions, we can depend less on superheros like Peter Parker to
save our lives.
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