Dr. Lauren Esposito

It's like a secret weapon for detecting scorpions.

And it's allowed us to discover way more species than we ever knew about.

So like 100 years ago, we knew about something like 200 scorpions on Earth.

And now we know about over 2,500.

What about their venom?

Okay.

I mean, let's get to the brass tacks, which is scorpion venom, right?

That's the thing that we're scared of.

We're scared of scorpions stinging us because that's like the legends that we hear.

Like you're going to die instantly if a scorpion stings you.

And I'm not going to say that that's not true entirely, like universally, right?

That that's untrue.

Because there are places in the world where there are genuinely dangerous scorpions.

But often the thing that makes them more dangerous is people's access to medical care.

So nowadays we have really effective...

antivenoms that can counteract the effects of scorpion venom very well.

And so if you can reach a hospital and get antivenom, you'll be able to survive a scorpion sting.

So the vast majority of scorpions pose no danger whatsoever to humans.

Of the 2,500 scorpions on Earth, there's only about 50 or less that are dangerous to humans.

Like 99% of scorpions don't pose any harm to humans.