- [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)
It's due to the cost of labor required to defeat a scorpion that large and steal its venom.
looks like i’m hunting some scorpy bois
Who buys and by the gallon?
Surely if you're buying it by the gallon then you're most likely buying it from Costco and will likely get change from $10.
All scorpion venom, or a specific species?
Technically? Or is someone selling it by the gallon? Cause in that case LSD cost $20 million per kilo. And a gallon of scorpion semen is priceless.
that's 4.5 meters per second for our international friends