- [Narrator] The deathstalker is on the most dangerous
scorpions on the planet, and what makes it so dangerous
also happens to be the most expensive liquid in the world.
Yeah, you read that right, this stuff
costs $39 million per gallon.
Now, even if you had the money,
you couldn't just go and buy a gallon of the stuff,
because you can only get it in tiny, minuscule amounts.
$130 will get you a droplet
that's smaller than a grain of sugar.
The reason why is pretty simple.
The stuff is hard to get.
Scorpions are almost always milked by hand, one by one.
And one scorpion produces, at the most,
just two milligrams of venom at a time.
So, let's do the math.
If you owned one scorpion and milked it every two days,
it would take you 10,371 years to fill up that gallon.
And let's face it, you'd probably
get stung along the way as well.
One sting isn't enough to kill a healthy human,
but I think it hurts.
- I'd easily put it being a hundred times
more painful than a bee sting,
but because pain is a subjective and emotional experience,
it's difficult to really get a quantification on that.
But it's definitely gonna ruin your day.
- [Narrator] That's Venomtech founder Steve Trim,
one of the few people brave enough
to deal with these animals.
That's because inside that deadly venom,
there's actually tons of useful components
that are helping pioneer breakthrough medicines.
Chlorotoxins, for example, are the perfect size
to bind with certain cancer cells in the brain and spine,
which is helpful for identifying the specific
size and location of tumors.
And researchers have used scorpine
to eliminate malaria in mosquitoes.
Kaliotoxin has been given to rats to fight bone disease.
Scientists hope it could work in humans too.
These are just a few of the medical benefits
that researchers have found in scorpion venom.
And the more they research it, the more uses they find.
Which means demand for this miracle venom continues to grow.
So scientists are now trying to figure out
ways to get more of it faster.
Like this group out of Morocco, who invented the first
remote control machine for milking scorpions.
It can safely milk up to four scorpions at a time.
It might not sound like much,
but it's four times faster than a human.
Scientists hope to get on the market within a few years,
making the whole process faster and safer.
"Faster and safer?", you're probably thinking.
"Hmmm, maybe I should start my own scorpion farm."
Well, get in line, wise guy.
- There clearly has been a surge in people thinking,
"Oh, this is a get rich quick scheme."
But with people not understanding
how scorpion venom is used.
We have seen a rise in the number of people
saying they've got 300 grams of scorpion venom,
do we want to buy it?
And the answer is "No, we've got our own".
(light orchestral music)