Black Mamba Venom Better Than Morphine

The deadly venom of the black mamba contains a painkiller as powerful as morphine, without most of the side effects, James Gallagher of BBC reports.

French scientists found that the venom, which black mamba use to paralyze and kill small animals, also contains a potent painkiller.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, baffled the researchers.

Morphine is an effective painkiller but is also "addictive and causes headaches, difficulty thinking, vomiting and muscle twitching," writes the BBC.  

Black mamba venom, on the hand, contains proteins called mambalgins that block pain through a completely different route and seem to produce few side-effects.

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