What's in a Name? Venoms vs. Poisons | Toxinology 101

Not to be confused with toxicology, with a C.

Science Sushi
By Christie Wilcox
Feb 16, 2017 2:00 PMMay 19, 2020 2:42 AM
Bee Poison - Shutterstock
(Credits: Bottle: F. JIMENEZ MECA/Shutterstock; Bees: Perutskyi Petro/anat chant/irin-k/Shutterstock)

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Scientists refer to the study of biological toxins as toxinology (not to be confused with toxicology, with a C — as I explain below). From bacterial toxins like anthrax to the deadliest snake venoms, toxinology examines the chemical warfare between animals, plants, fungi and bacteria. This is the first in a new series I call Toxinology 101, where I explain and explore the fundamentals of toxin science to reveal the unusual, often unfamiliar, and unnerving world created by our planet’s most notorious biochemists.

“Point blank,” my friend, a commander in the U.S. Navy, said firmly, when I asked what misused word or phrase really gets under his skin. “Definitely point blank.”

I asked why, and as he explained, I realized I’d been using the phrase wrong, too. To people familiar with firearms, hearing someone call an up-close gun shot “point blank” is like dragging nails on a chalkboard because that’s not what it means at all. 

Point blank (which may come from the French phrase pointé à blanc, referring to an arrow being aimed at a white spot at the center of a target) has nothing to do with close proximity to the shooter. Rather, point blank range is the distance at which a weapon aimed at a target succeeds in hitting it — where point of aim (e.g. the middle of the crosshairs) is the same as point of impact.

(Credit: Photosite/Shutterstock)
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