The most expensive liquid in the world is scorpion venom for 760 million rubles
The yellow scorpion is otherwise called the "deadly hunter" or "stalking death", and it is considered one of the most dangerous and deadly representatives of arachnids. Its venom belongs to the strongest neurotoxins. By itself, it is not fatal, but it can cause anaphylactic shock (and already it is life-threatening). But now it's not about that, but about the fact that this very poison is the most expensive liquid on earth, it costs fabulous money.
A liter of yellow scorpion venom costs $10.3 million (760 million rubles), but it is not easy to get it. The poison is pumped by hand, and the scorpions themselves live on special farms, where they are waiting for their turn to help humanity.
A logical question arises: who gave up this poison, and even at such a price? The fact is that it contains very rare and valuable components — for example, chlorotoxin, on the basis of which scientists are developing a drug against cancer.
Precious chlorotoxin acts directly on cancer cells, ignoring healthy tissues. It is this selectivity of the substance against cancer cells that gives hope to use it in the fight against the disease. If you combine chlorotoxin with a radioisotope, then theoretically it should deliver the radioactive substance directly to the tumor and stay there.
This is not the only use of chlorotoxin, it can also help surgeons. If you combine the substance with a fluorescent dye, then the tumor will literally glow, which facilitates the work of the doctor, because then it is not difficult to figure out where the tumor tissue ends and the healthy one begins. And this significantly increases the probability of removing all tumor cells.
In the wild, scorpion venom leads to rapid and prolonged paralysis of its victims, which usually turn out to be insects, spiders and other scorpions. If the target was a person, then the poison can cause fever, severe pain, convulsions, paralysis, coma and even death caused by lung failure.
Fortunately, a person dies from the sting of a scorpion in very rare cases. Children and people with poor health or with heart disease are at risk.
At the moment, studies of the yellow scorpion venom are actively continuing. First of all, they are aimed at the treatment of brain cancer, since this type of tumor is difficult to remove with surgery.
And a little about the yellow scorpions themselves. Usually the body length of an adult is 8-10 centimeters, the color ranges from straw yellow to yellow-orange. In them, as in many other insects, males are smaller, thinner and weaker than females. And that's how they mate.
Scorpions live in North Africa, Turkey and the Arabian Peninsula, usually in dry desert areas (but not in the deserts themselves). They like to hide in crevices, crevices and under rocks (they have just flat bodies), sometimes burrow to a depth of 20 centimeters.
Yellow scorpions are nocturnal, they do not have very good eyesight, but excellent sense of touch. And they also feel the fluctuations of sand and soil perfectly, which helps them understand the direction of movement of a potential victim.
By the way, yellow scorpion venom can also be used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus - neurotoxins regulate the production of insulin.