Scorpion venom may be solution to current pesticides’ sting in the tail
Natural toxins that don’t harm the environment crucial to farming’s future
Venom could be nature’s answer to food security as a viable alternative to harmful pesticides used in mass farming, a global forum in Dubai heard.
Dr Mande Holford, associate professor of chemical biology at the City University of New York, said scientists wanted to harness venom’s properties using “venomics”.
Venomics combines venom research with genomics, which is used for gene sequencing.
“Venom is an exciting area as it can be used to explain biodiversity and why it is so common in nature,” Dr Holford told the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils.
“Venom can also help with food security,” he said.
“We know a lot of venomous animals feed on insects naturally so when we are looking at developing bio-insecticides we can look at the properties of venom that is killing these insects naturally.
“We are heading to a precipice point where we will have to change our way of agriculture, and nature-based drugs and pesticides in farming is an amazing way of doing that.”
Marine cone snail venom is already used in pain relief for HIV and cancer patients, viper venom has been used to prevent blood clotting and scorpion venom to treat cancer.
The forum also heard how alternative forms of agriculture will play a crucial role in preserving food security as climate change makes farming more difficult.
The Pure Harvest greenhouse project near Abu Dhabi is providing a computer-controlled ecosystem for optimal growing conditions in a one-hectare plot.
It has produced its first batch of tomatoes and if expanded, could be the answer to growing locally grown produce.
“There has been a large inconsistency over weather patterns during the past few years and we know that is going to continue,” said Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences.
“That is impacting on food production. Challenges are ingrained in our agriculture history because of the heat during summers with scarce water and less access to energy.
“Our ancestors have adapted to climate challenges, and we must now do the same by using technology for more sustainable food production with less water and less energy.”
The UAE aims to increase domestic agricultural production with the latest technology.
“We are not just looking at food production, but food processing and logistics across the whole supply chain,” said Mariam Al Mehairi, Minister of State for Food Security.
“The technologies exist, we just need to upscale them so they can be used by more of us.
“Clean food is very important. If you can produce food here, you don’t need all of the preservatives to keep it fresh for longer when it is imported. This will have a huge impact on the health of our communities.”
At a forum on the frontiers of science and technology in Dubai, researchers said a breakthrough in transmitting renewable energy would make it easier to use alternative power sources on a mass scale.
A major problem in the renewable energy sector is how to send energy from solar and wind farms thousands of kilometres to where it is needed.
Energy is lost along the way, but that could change with the development of new super-conductive materials.
“Many developed countries are using older technologies that cannot transport electricity a few hundred metres without losing a percentage of energy,” said Suchitra Sebastian, associate professor at the University of Cambridge.
“Adapting this new technology would provide an enormous solution to one of the problems we are finding with alternative energy supplies.”