Relax, Indiana Jones. Snakes aren't so scary... as long as you're wearing a good pair of jeans. According to research done by scientists in California, denim provides more than classic American fashion statement. While this may seem somewhat obvious, the researchers are happy to announce that covering your legs with jeans doesn't just reduce the amount of venom that a snakebite can inject into your system—it reduces it by a lot. From Reuters:
Drs. Shelton S. Herbert and William K. Hayes used latex gloves filled with saline to simulate a human appendage, then exposed the gloves to bites from small and large southern Pacific rattlesnakes. Some of the latex "limbs" were covered in a layer of denim.
The researchers found that compared with the jeans-less gloves, those covered in denim absorbed about two-thirds less venom from the rattlesnake bites. Instead, a high proportion of the venom "spilled harmlessly" onto the ...
