Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Really cool (as in subzero) new octopus species

Four new species found in Antarctic waters as fascinating to scientists because their venom works even at subzero temperatures. The octopi drill through mollusk shells with their beaks and then let the poison go to work. Teuthologis Bryan Fry adds, ""We want to see what cool and wonderful new venom components we can find out of these venoms that would be useful in drug development. They have such incredibly accurate activity that there has to be a way to harness that. To tweak it or modify it or just use one little chunk."

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