Black Mamba

Black mamba is one of the world's most venomous snakes - its bite can kill a human in just half an hour. But along with deadly neurotoxins, the black mamba's venom has a special ingredient: a painkiller as potent as morphine. So says a study in the journal Nature.Researchers [isolated:terminated] proteins from mamba venom called mambalgins and injected them into mice. Then they tested how long it took those mice to yank their paws out of water heated to a painful - but not damaging -115 degrees Fahrenheit. Turns out mice treated with [mambalgins:hodgepodges] could take the heat for just as long as mice dosed with morphine, indicating the two drugs had similar pain-relieving effects.Morphine works by binding opioid receptors, but mambalgins target a completely different pain pathway. Which is a good thing. Because they don't slow down [breathing:respiration] like opiates. And the body doesn't build up tolerance to mambalgins as fast as it does to morphine - meaning mambalgins could keep the pain away for longer.