Tarantulas: Biomimicry

Summary: Tarantulas have taught us some pretty cool things! Join Kiersten and a guest co-host as they talk about what tarantulas have taught us about colors and pain killers.

 

For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.

 

Show Notes: 

“Tarantula venom could be used as a potent pain reliever” by Angela Betsaida B. Laguipo, BSN; https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200414/Tarantula-venom-could-be-used-as-a-potent-pain-reliver.aspx

“Tarantula Venom Helps Reveal How We Sense Pain” by Ben Taub; https://www.iflscience.com/tarantula-venom-helps-reveal-how-we-sense-pain-36091

“Blue Tarantula Hair Inspires Nonfading Color Pigment” by Kacey Deamer; https://www.livescience.com/58031-tarantula-hair-inspired-nonfading-color.html

 

Transcript

(Piano music plays)

Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.

(Piano music stops)

Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 

This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.

This episode continues tarantulas and the sixth thing I like about tarantulas is what we’re learning from them that changes the way we see our world!

Today I have a special guest to help me, my husband Georgiy! Thanks for helping me with this episode on biomimicry, Georgiy.

 

Georgiy - You’re welcome. You said bio-what? 

 

Kiersten - Biomimicry. 

 

Georgiy - What is biomimicry?

 

Kiersten - Biomimicry means that a structure or process built or designed by humans was influenced by biological creatures or processes that happen naturally in the world. 

 

Georgiy - Cool! So this episode is about what we are learning from studying tarantulas?

 

Kiersten - Yes! Exactly! And we’re going to start off with a study done by scientists researching color in tarantulas. Georigy, do you know that tarantulas come in many different colors?

 

Georgiy - I do because you showed me pictures.  My favorite tarantula is the bright blue Sapphire Tarantula.

 

Kiersten - Ooo. Good choice! That one is amazing!

 

Georgiy - What did they find out researching the blue color of these tarantulas?

 

Kiersten - I’m so glad you asked because it’s super cool! They discovered that the blue on the tarantula is a structural color. Many of the colors we see are pigments that produce color when the electrons interact with light. Our clothing and our paint are based on these kinds of pigments. The problem is that they will eventually fade and is often made with chemicals that can harm our environment. 

 

The tarantula’s blue color is a structural color, which means there are tiny nanostructures on their exoskeleton that scatter light at a specific wavelength producing the blue color we see. Now structural colors, which are produced when light interacts with nanostructures that are about the same size as a specific color’s wavelength, are nothing new. We’ve known about structural colors for a while, but most of them are iridescent. 

 

Georgiy - Like some bird feathers? 

 

Kiersten - Yes! Just like certain bird’s feathers. Have you ever looked at at peacock feather in the sun? 

 

Georgiy - I have. It’s very pretty.

 

Kiersten - What happened when you twisted that feather between your fingers?

 

Georgiy - It looks like it changed colors.

 

Kiersten - Exactly! When the light reflects off the nanostructures at different angles the light changes m  aking the color change. It’s beautiful but as one of the researchers from the University of Akron in Ohio, Bor-Kai Hsiung (suhng) said in an interview with LiveScience, “It’s beautiful out in nature, but not very functional when we’re watching television and we move to a new seat.” 

 

Georgiy - So how does the Sapphire Tarantula fit in?  

 

Kiersten - Researchers took a closer look at several different species of blue tarantulas and discovered that their pigments are not iridescent. The nanostructres of their hair are covered with distinct flower-like structures that limit the iridescence.

 

Georgiy - Wow! What does that mean?

 

Kiersten - It means that we could use this structure to create more vibrant, longer lasting, and less toxic colors for use in paints, clothing, and digital screens!

 

Georgiy - Well, that is just cool! What other things are tarantulas teaching us?

 

Kiersten - The venom of Heteroscodra maculata, or the Togo Starburst Tarantula native to West Africa, is helping us understand how our bodies process pain.

 

Georgiy - Hmmm. Tell me more.

 

Kiersten - Certainly. Researchers at the University of California, San Fransisco were interested in isolating the specific pathways that indicate pain to our central nervous system. The impulses that tell our CNS that we are in pain use voltage-gated sodium channels known as Nav channels. We have so many different types of Nav channels that we don’t currently know which ones actually indicate pain. So when you use a local anesthetic it blocks all the Nav channels so that patient does not feel pain. But if we could understand which channels actually transmit the pain signals we could better treat certain CNS disorders. 

 

Georgiy - That sounds complicated.

 

Kiersten - It kind of is, but that’s it for the hard part. Next the researchers injected the tarantulas venom into the feet of mice and then mapped the Nav channels that reacted.  

 

Georgiy - What happened?

 

Kiersten - The mice got some itchy feet and the researchers discovered that the Nav1.1 channels are the ones that reacted to the proteins in the venom. We now understand that these Nav1.1 channels are the ones that react to a mechanical pain but not a thermal pain. They took this information and applied it to a disorder called irritable bowl syndrome, or IBS, in which people often describe pain in their guts. These Nav1.1 channels are found in the gut. So by using this tarantula’s venom we now have a new idea of how to better treat the symptoms of IBS.

 

Georgiy - All of that from tarantula venom?

 

Kiersten - Yep! And speaking of venom, there’s more.

 

Georgiy - More? What else have we learned from studying tarantula venom?

 

Kiersten - Researchers at the University of Queensland have discovered that molecules in tarantula venom could be used as pain killers for people that suffer from chronic, or long-term, pain.

 

Georgiy - That’s interesting, but taking pain killers long term can be pretty addictive, right?

 

Kiersten - Yes, if you’re taking an opioid pain killer. These can be extremely addictive and as anyone who listens to the news knows, it has been a big problem that many people are battling as of late. The venom of the Chinese Bird Spider, also known as the Chinese Black Earth Tiger Tarantula, was broken down into its individual molecules, then scientists replicated some of the molecules creating mini-molecules and gave them to mice. It helped reduce pain without any addictive side effects. This could be a non-addictive alternative to opioids for people with long-term pain.

 

Georgiy - It seems like we are learning a lot from tarantulas.

 

Kiersten - We really are and as long as we keep their natural habitats from disappearing who know what else we can learn!

 

That’s it for this episode of Ten Things I Like About Tarantulas! Thanks for co-hosting with me this week, Georgiy!

 

Georgiy - You’re welcome! 

 

Kiersten -  I hope you all enjoyed learning about what tarantulas have taught us because it’s my sixth favorite thing about these amazing arachnids.

 

If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 

 

Join me next week for another thing I like about tarantulas!

 

(Piano Music plays) 

This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.