It seems dreadfully counterintuitive that bites from a tiny creature such as a recluse or black widow spider can have disastrous, even lethal consequences for far larger creatures, like humans. How is this possible, given the seemingly insignificant volumes of venom in question?
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The human body is an immensely complicated biochemical machine that runs on thousands of different proteins and depends on them interacting correctly. A toxin can interfere with the functioning of some vital part of this machine by mimicking or complementing the structure of some proteins. It’s like the way how even a small amount of gasoline mixed into the tank has the potential to completely wreck a diesel engine, because it interferes with its proper working.
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