First of, i would really hope it could be used with succes!
I read this article posted on the forums by Shrike the other day. Very interesting stuff about using spider silk to heal the human body.
It's incredible what science can do! As for fighting a spider's cannibal instinct to get large amounts of venom however... That is a different story.
Makes you wonder if it would be worthwhile to sequence the genome and put the genes for venom production into some bacteria.
What makes you think that? Because it is potent? There's no basis to assume a potent venom is more useful than a less potent one. I don't understand your assumption, sorry.
That doesn't seem valid. A venom itself isn't particularly useful, it is the toxins in a venom that can be medically useful. Also, venom potency isn't a good metric for deducing the medical efficacy of something.
There is literally nothing valid in that paragraph. A lot of VERY potent animals have been studied. You're wrong.
Apples and oranges. Snakes produce much more venom than a spider for one thing. It's also very different than spider venom, in that it contain proteins, whereas tarantula venom has peptides. Snake venoms are incredibly complex, far more than they need to be (in my cobra collecting days, I used to know two guys who did venom extraction). A snake venom may contain 30 or 40 proteins, and we don't know what most of them do. It's been likened to a grenade going off in the victim's body. Some destroy tissue, some effect the heart, some disable the nervous system, some cause pain, some cause bleeding, some cause clotting, and others may simply amplify the effects of others. Every species/subspecies of snake has a different mix of proteins in it's venom. There's enough to keep researchers busy for centuries. With all this potential, spider venoms take a back seat.
You think scientists, who's very jobs are research, are going to fail to research a species and just assume temperament, venom potency, ect, before they interact with it? Seriously?
Well what I think you aren't realizing is that it is way easier to handle a cobra without harming it than it is to hold a small, flighty, angry spider without hurting it. you can use a snake hook and tongs to manipulate it and pin the head down if needed on a cobra, and it's kind of hard to to that with a tarantula, don't you think? I mean, it's hundreds of times smaller then you and very easily gooshable if you're not careful. Plus they are WAY faster than a cobra in regards to escaping. Cobras can't teleport. A tarantula can.
You knock a spider out before you milk it via electrical stimulation of the checlirae.
I think with CO2?