this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Today I Learned

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From biological weapon to cosmetic product is crazy

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[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

The deadliest non natural substance of course is one of those fluorine chemicals that rapidly oxidizes with even sand and glass

[–] Furbag@pawb.social 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

My favorite killjoy activity is telling people Botox is actually made from the same shit that causes Botulism and watching the disbelief shift into horror when they look it up on their phones.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Botox is literally just short for Botulinum Toxin

[–] SippyCup@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

I don't remember the last time I encountered somebody who didn't already know that

[–] Surp@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

It saved my life essentially. I was getting 16 migraines a month now I get zero.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That's amazing. What part of you was paralyzed to reduce the headaches?

[–] OldManWithACane@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My wife got this done. It was over 150 individual injections in her jaw, head, and neck.

It has been absolutely life changing for her following years of constant migraines. She was able to come off of nine separate medications as a result too.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 5 points 21 hours ago

Yikes, but worth it!

[–] Surp@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Jaw neck forehead back part of head (that part imo hurts the most during injections) every 3 months for no migraines is pretty worth it.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 21 hours ago

Fascinating! I'm glad you're feeling better.

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

not OP, but i believe it is usually to do with the jaw

[–] Kellenved@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Jaw or neck or face

[–] teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

A teaspoon of botulism toxin could kill millions or something. But with the right dosage it is safe.

[–] jamesrandysghost@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The dosage makes the poison.

To little = nothing

To much = dead

Just right? Maybe get high?

The history of human mind expansion in three lines.

[–] Mearcfara@lemmy.ml 3 points 22 hours ago

Interestingly, I just heard this on another lemmy post about alcohol. It wasn't well received there, lol

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Two in my coffee please

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If they develop a special one for men it should be Bro-tox.

[–] SippyCup@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

Cut to Clavicular injecting it straight in to his nuts for some reason

[–] CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world 85 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Not just cosmetic, I believe it’s used to treat migraines and possibly other issues. Crazy stuff.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 59 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Dose makes the poison. Even the most toxic substance known to man can have benefits in a small enough dose.

[–] BassTurd@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (5 children)

If you ingest antifreeze, the cure is a measured amount of alcohol to counter the effects. The poison of my poison is my cure.

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 22 points 1 day ago

Same with methanol poisoning from tainted or improperly made alcohol beverages . The treatment is to drink proper alcohol beverages.

[–] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I learned this from the episode of House with LL Cool J

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Warfarin saved a lot of lives as a blood thinner, it also killed a lot of rats.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

And predators that eat rats :(

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 1 day ago

A few billionths of a single gram in a muscle will kill you. That's fucking nuts that it's used on people.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (9 children)

I was a part of the noburp community on the old site. In the last decade it's been used to cure that. The body metabolizes it after about 6 months, but having that assistance often helps build the muscle memory and people can usually burp after that. I personally had it done twice and can still do small burps at last, and my daughter (toddler, born very prematurely) had it done at the beginning of the year. Her physical medicine doctor mentioned it as a possibility, and when I told him about the burping thing he basically equated Botox in the medical community with Windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding

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[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The absolute coolness that is science and stuff amazes me! We saw a deadly poison, studied the shit outta it, now keep it and use it like a pet! It's really neat!

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All those glp-1 agonists that are all the rage right now are because scientists recognized the gila lizard can go long periods without eating while keeping its blood sugar stable and studied its venom

The current drugs like ozempic are synthetic though, no actual gila venom

Also fun fact: the guy that discovered the effect figured it out in the early 90s and actually patented it himself because for years no one was interested. Pharmaceutical industry was apparently “disinterested” and it wasn’t moved forward until 2002 (exenatide/byetta, a precursor to more efficacious drugs like tirzepatide/zepbound/mounjaro, which coincidentally made Eli Lilly the most valuable drug company in the world. Another fun fact is that Lilly partnered with another smaller company to make exenatide then Lilly dissolved the partnership in 2011, allowing the smaller company to keep the rights, likely because they saw the opportunity for the next steps)

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You would be amazed at how stupid big pharma can be, they can put government to shame.

[–] teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

They (all corporations,) are run by money grubbers, not experts in the fields they are managing. Pfizer's executives probably don't know shit about drugs.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

Funny enough the NIH funded research was cited by republicans like Rand Paul in their wastebook as an example of some “dumb bullshit” that we are wasting our money on. Funnier enough this practice was started by a Democrat in the 70s and 80s (William proxmire from Wisconsin and his “Golden Fleece awards”)

[–] spiffy_spaceman@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago

In my graduate neurology class, we learned how it works and that affected nerves can pass it along to adjacent nerves, disabling them as well. This takes multiple doses over time, so one or two treatments is not a huge concern. The professor then told us how shocked he was to learn that 15 year olds are getting injections.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The estimated human median lethal dose of type A toxin is 1.3–2.1 ng/kg intravenously or intramuscularly, 10–13 ng/kg when inhaled, or 1 μg/kg when taken by mouth

fuuuuuck thats... terrifying.

[–] Archer@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

One microgram per kg? Jesus fucking Christ

[–] teft@piefed.social 20 points 1 day ago

The intravenous one is 3 orders of magnitude lower. μg is 10^-6^. ng is 10^-9^.

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[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fuck that's crazy, its lethal dose by mouth is LSD's standard dose by mouth 😂

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

What's the dosage to get really, really fucking high??

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Swiss-American veterinary scientist, created a center at the Hooper Foundation in San Francisco, where he developed techniques for growing the organism and extracting the toxin, and conversely, for preventing organism growth and toxin production, and inactivating the toxin by heating. The California canning industry was thereby preserved.

[–] teyrnon@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

The canning companies were under pressure to fix the issue or they were cooked.

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