Why Scorpions Glow in the Dark

Under UV light, almost all species of scorpions glow a bright green color, but why? Thanks to Capital One Shopping for sponsoring a portion of this video! Avoid Paying Full Price. Get Capital One Shopping for free using this link: capitaloneshopping.com/verita...
A huge thanks to Prof. Carl Kloock for the interview and taking us scorpion hunting at the Panorama Vista Preserve. panoramavista.org/
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References:
Zwicky, K. T. (1968). A light response in the tail of Urodacus, a scorpion. Life Sciences, 7(6), 257-262. --ve42.co/Zwicky1968
Kloock, C. T. (2005). Aerial insects avoid fluorescing scorpions. Euscorpius, 2005(21), 1-7. -- ve42.co/Kloock2005
Gaffin, D. D., Bumm, L. A., Taylor, M. S., Popokina, N. V., & Mann, S. (2012). Scorpion fluorescence and reaction to light. Animal Behaviour, 83(2), 429-436. -- ve42.co/Gaffin2012
Kloock, C. T., Kubli, A., & Reynolds, R. (2010). Ultraviolet light detection: a function of scorpion fluorescence. The Journal of Arachnology, 38(3), 441-445. -- ve42.co/Kloock2012
Kloock, C. T. (2009). Reducing scorpion fluorescence via prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light. The Journal of Arachnology, 37(3), 368-370. -- ve42.co/Kloock2009
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Written by Derek Muller, Emily Zhang, Petr Lebedev
Animation by Ivy Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller and Emily Zhang
Edited by Brian Kim
Additional video supplied by Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com
And "Sneaky Snitch" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
Produced by Derek Muller, Emily Zhang and Petr Lebedev

[@Kimera_Alternate_Realities]

"Should I go out tonight, or should I stay in my hole?" I can relate, little scorpion, I can relate.

[@Quickened1]

Should I stay or should I go, now..🎼🎵🎶

[@Deepak-gt9wd]

I can't relate, l just always stay in my hole

[@StanHowse]

Thanks, Chimera.

[@pvic6959]

i was goign to say the same! I wasnt expecting to empathize with a scorpion this morning LOL

[@abhinavsk8292]

I always stay in the wrong hole

[@fireaza]

Alternate hypothesis: scorpions are really into the rave scene.

[@luizarthurbrito]

Best hypothesis* 😅

[@kroax9720]

This is the real reason ig

[@zeahgoat1872]

I love this comment

[@Aphrodite10]

👍

[@petarmiletic997]

Nahh, all scorpions work for the CIA. That's why they glow in the dark

[@TicTacYo100]

"Even platypuses glow under ultra fluorescent light" Of course they do: what exactly was evolution thinking when they created the platypus?

[@Delightfully_Bitchy]

Most people like a drink or two, sometime.

[@manoahvanderwolf3259]

evolution CREATED the platypus? really dude..............

[@TicTacYo100]

@@Delightfully_Bitchy Yes, Mr Evolution. He must have been drunk or something.

[@somedudeok1451]

Evolution probably didn't think anything. Because evolution doesn't think. Period.

[@mateowang6570]

@@somedudeok1451 LOL you may be taking this a bit too seriously... pretty sure it’s just a joke

[@Chris.Davies]

I love the fact scorpions can incorporate iron and nickel into the tips of claws and tail. THAT IS SO METAL! (sorry, I absolutely had to)

[@Hassan-to3bs]

Lol as if Scorpions weren't already metal enough.

[@Attaxalotl]

That is literally metal.

[@Jimberley123]

If i had a Nickel for every time i'd heard this one

[@eddymison3527]

Not completely Blackout tho, haha

[@rejectionmagnnet2112]

metal until they sting you. these guys were using bark scorpions, which are the most painful and sometimes deadly if you are allergic.

[@nothosaur]

Hypothesis: Veritasium holds a camera to interview and has someone filming him holding a camera to interview because he has no tripod

[@Aphrodite10]

Great hypothesis!

[@cognitiveconsonancescience2937]

Clearly, a scorpion would make a great cameraman, 8 legs > 3 legs.

[@Aphrodite10]

@@cognitiveconsonancescience2937 haha

[@jaimepabjr.8171]

@@cognitiveconsonancescience2937 and 8 eyes

[@recurvestickerdragon]

@@cognitiveconsonancescience2937 And a long flexible camera mount on the tail~ Which can apparently also detect light, so they can help set your exposure and stuff

[@besmart]

Fun fact: Sea scorpions (extinct) were also fluorescent. Horseshoe crabs fluoresce too, and are the sister group to all arachnids. Horseshoe crabs rely heavily on moonlight to time their mating migration. So if the common ancestor of scorpions and horseshoe crabs also fluoresced, it’s a good bit of support for the moonlight detection hypothesis! Or it’s a spandrel. One or the other.

[@name_69420]

Ooo... Thank you for the info sir!

[@reynal_omnicide9217]

Horshoe crabs are my favorite animals, I've never seen anyone showing they fluoresce and I live in the west so I can't test :(

[@__mads__]

Stay in your lane, brainiac! 🙃

[@syzygy2897]

SEA SCORPION?!!?!?!?

[@Oiirnplays]

you should make a vid on it

[@thelostronin]

Was shocked to find fluorescing scorpions in central NC - they were so small, about the size of a pencil tip, but clearly had green-glowing tails even under natural light. I haven't seen them since I got chickens 😂

[@KAZVorpal]

Scorpions here in Georgia get about an inch and a half long. I suspect that the ones you were seeing were nymphs. Babies of the same species.

[@Beakerzor]

6:25 I just love how the phanerozoic eon only goes back 1/9th of the history of the earth, it's like abundant life just began a moment ago

[@darthinsidious838]

"Platypus also fluoresce" Why am I not surprised? Nothing about Platypus surprises me anymore

[@logicbuilder1204]

They are also venomous so that something.

[@abhinavsk8292]

Will u be surprised if scientist decide platypus shouldn't be a mammal

[@jacobshirley3457]

@@abhinavsk8292 If it wasn't a mammal, what would it be? A fish? A reptile? An amphibian? A bird?

[@logicbuilder1204]

@@abhinavsk8292 Can't really do that considering animal groups are based on there genes not there characteristics.

[@Aphrodite10]

Yeah

[@7rich79]

"Should I go out tonight or should I stay in my hole" - my spirit animal the scorpion, apparently

[@indridcold8433]

I go out every night. I work the third shift. I work nightly from 21:00 to 06:00, four nights a week. The three nights a week I do not work, I still live at night. My circadian cycle is inverted because I have operated at night for decades. I always go out at night. I go weeks without seeing daylight.

[@JesseLack]

@@indridcold8433 neat

[@protercool8474]

I too weigh the likelihood of being seen vs how hungry I am

[@flamedash2837]

@@indridcold8433 frr? Yo could you talk in detail about it maybe? Veritasium should do a video on _you_ man

[@yash1152]

9:23

[@Genomsnittet]

This professor is badass. Admits to being wrong, that it happens oftens, and also not "professional" in his demeanour. He's joking and being nerdy. Love him

Hi, My family always watches your videos. We live in Sweden and this summer we went to Greece for vacation. We had a pretty large circular swimming-pool about 1 meter deep and about 10 meters in diameter. And me and my family started walking around the pool trying to get the pool in a circular motion. We asked some other people for help and they did help us. We were in total 7 adults and 5 kids doing it. The motion in the ocean :) began and every new person that entered the pool felt it and had to go with the flow direction. The funny thing is that we did this every day for a week and everybody believed that this was a pool that had fans and they swam around and around enjoying the pool. When we told people that this was not a mechanical motion and that it was started by us walking around most people did not believe us. The problem was that we just had an idéa that we tried and it worked but we could not explain it. You could make a video explaining this and I bet people with circular swimming-pools would go nuts over it. Sorry for my terrible english.

[@CrazyGaming-ig6qq]

So what happens if someone decide to go in the opposite direction, would the circular motion believers shun them as deviants?

[@Hex...]

Presumably this is just the inertia of the water in the pool, it’s tendency to keep moving once you start it

[@trake8195]

@@Hex... I guess a way you can put it into perspective is when you stir a drink with a spoon and then take it out

[@stritax9478]

@@trake8195 makes sense

[@njones420]

@@CrazyGaming-ig6qq I believe whan a swimmer meets an anti-swimmer it results in annihilation and a huge release of energy.

[@dembro27]

"If there's light at night, it ain't alright." - Scorpion, probably

[@8kigana]

hahaha, so true, scorpions like black widows are 100% nocturnal when it comes to hunting.

[@balasubramaniana9541]

If UV light is invisible to the human eye then how it appears violet colour in the video?

[@itismethatguy]

@@8kigana aren’t black widows spiders?

[@michahermann7869]

@@balasubramaniana9541 Most UV emitters also emit a little bit of violet light. However there are UV flashlights that have special filters to filter the remaining visible light out

[@skywriter4308]

@@itismethatguy They are, but both spiders and scorpions are arachnids.

[@nicholeritchey1383]

Earlier this summer, I went on a short night hike with some rangers in Copper Breaks State Park, Texas. We took UV flashlights and our group counted about 70 scorpions along the way. Until that night, I had no idea that they glowed!

[@ccbgaming6994]

Wow!

[@Q_QQ_Q]

Why did you take UV light for ?

[@zhinkunakur4751]

@@Q_QQ_Q these guys sus

[@JasonJonesoriginal]

another fun thing for night hikes is to just shine a regular flashlight. All the spider eyes will reflect back at you. Very shocking how many there are

[@Expllosaoriginal]

@@Q_QQ_Q To make sure the scene is properly bleached, obviously

[@TheBleachedazn]

Hello Derek! This was an awesome video. I loved seeing the professor's enthusiasm and appreciated you letting him speak about his working hypotheses and experiments while giving background information on the science in the video. As someone in research myself, this style of exposition did not go unappreciated and I'd love to see even more videos like this covering a whole range of scientific/mathematical phenomena!

[@csbalachandran]

*Always* fascinating, and humorous to *just* the right extent! This is one of my favorite channels! Good work, team! And, thanks!!

[@nealdiamond2778]

What i found with my own scorpions is that after they molt they are not florescent under black light untill their exoskeleton hardens again.

[@azureNotsure]

Oh that’s very interesting1

[@Mark-Wilson]

yeah it hink thers something inside the exoskeleton maybe chitin itself idk that makes it flourece

[@renderproductions1032]

Wow

[@chriskennedy2846]

I just found this online: ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: March 04, 2020, Scorpions make a fluorescent compound that could help protect them from parasites.

[@adamk5487]

With the science in this video, we won't know if the scorpions know that too or not. They wouldn't likely catch a non fluorescent scorpion.

[@arkon332]

Hypothesis 1:Relic Trait Hypothesis 2: Attracts Prey Hypothesis 3: Communication Hypothesis 4: Camouflage Hypothesis 5:Sunscreen Hypothesis 6:Detect light

[@SUPERDART146]

Thanks !!!

[@oldvlognewtricks]

At 05:40 it clearly shows ‘Camoflauge’

[@JULEMANDEN99]

Hypothesis 7 deteriant so bigger creatures wont ho for them Hypothesis 8 a water atractor? like salt

[@SF-li9kh]

The video ended too soon. So what is the most plausible one then ? Which does the scientific community lean towards ?

[@narsil1984]

@@SF-li9kh I got the feeling that this particular researcher leans towards 6 and that he is an expert on scorpions. It also seems likely that there arent that many scorpion specialists that focus on why they emit UV light for there to really be a point in group chats. Seems like a bit of a niche question.

[@Beakerzor]

5:35 if you shine a light on your skin, you can feel it, but it doesn't mean you can "see" the light, like where it's coming from or distance, you just know when your arm is hot or not

[@Alraithification]

i really love him telling us about the hypothesis that proved out to be wrong and the thought process behind it

[@blakejones2668]

Douglas Gaffin was one of my professors in college. He's an outstanding educator.

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Well tell him, "Keep His Arms and Legs Inside The Ride At All Times." ;)

[@TheCookieMansion]

That's awesome

[@stevencooke6451]

Lucky you. He seems very engaging.

[@alexlandherr]

The one creature that have successfully fused rave culture with metal…

[@LeagueLee17]

lol XD

[@LORD_ROHIT_1234]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@lucbloom]

A very fringe group indeed.

[@BatCaveOz]

🤣

[@lduts5623]

Scorpions definitely listen to Industrial Techno.

[@sntslilhlpr6601]

You probably won't see this, but congrats on the 10mil. It's been a long road and you have been consistent throughout when it comes to making quality content that educates and doesn't mislead people. You are the biggest channel I subscribe to by quite a ways, and it's not because you are trendy or topical or clickbaity (lol). It's because you are awesome and you're genuinely doing the same kind've thing that other legendary educators did when I was a kid. Congratulations, and good luck.

[@zl9764]

yes yes well said. Congrats! 👏

[@SlayerofFiction]

Exactly, I love his videos and how he has returned to just being him over his attempt at Glamour style via "TheBeast"

[@davidfryer9359]

I know these guys appreciate when we notice the numbers. I knew i wasnt the only one who noticed these thing. Congratulations is very much in order! I might add this channel has 1.25 Billion views. Unbelievable!

[@TinoPetersson]

I can't believe that I just found this channel. It is just amazing. Thank you for this excellent content!

[@domvasta]

Another fun fact about scorpions, unlike almost all other arachnids, they give birth to live offspring, they often ride around on their mother's back until they're large enough to fend for themselves, she'll use their front legs and claws to catch the baby scorplings and either put them on her back, or, sometimes, eat them if she's really hungry.

[@maksvuka6013]

Damn that escalated quickly

[@talisikid1618]

Animals will be animals.

[@Now_Its_Orange]

I have seen it myself and it is indeed the stuff of nightmares

[@PiXie232]

Woah.. I did not know that they eat their young, or take care of them for that matter. Crazy..

[@fourthpanda]

Why bother expending the energy to make a baby only yo take it back by eating it

[@regulatorjohnson.]

"even a blind man knows when the sun is shining, because he can feel it" bob weir of the grateful dead from the song Good Lovin'

[@undergravitydownforce714]

yep! but a lot of artificial light produces next to no heat so it is pretty cool scorpions are good at detecting 'weaker' lights

[@TheSulross]

"scorpion senses"

[@MrAwawe]

Well, this is due to the sunlight warming the skin, but moonlight contains almost no IR, and thus provides negligible warming

[@lylemacdonald6672]

Crayfish also prefer dark places and also have light sensitive receptors in their tail section. By casting a shadow on this spot, even when their eyes are painted over, it elicits the tail flip escape response. Such a skill would help the crayfish escape from a predator luring in the water above it. Possibly the scorpian's light sensing abilities have a similar function?

[@somedudeok1451]

I'd say by the time a bird blocks out the light above the scorpion it's already too late to run.

[@gamaltk]

I absolutely love how high quality your videos have become

[@StardogTheRed]

5:00 I wonder if the heat from the bulb was controlled for? I imagine they were incandescent lights, the year being 1968 and all, and would therefore give off a good amount of heat/infrared as well. If the experiment could be redone with LEDs or some other more efficient type of lighting, I wonder if the results would still be the same.

[@hammerth1421]

I'm pretty sure it was done with LEDs, not some old 60 watt bulb like the visualisation shows.

[@IrvineTheHunter]

I also wondered this, like I can feel the heat of the sun, can't imagine they can't.

[@KalebPeters99]

I wondered the same. It looks like the experiment was re-created in 2012 (it's the third paper in the description) and with how precisely they controlled the wavelength I can't imagine they didn't use LEDs There isn't an explicit mention in the abstract though. Anyone with the funds feel free to actually access the paper 😆

[@YawnGod]

They did use LEDs.

[@Anankin12]

@@KalebPeters99 let me try to find it via lib gen or something

[@RisingRevengeance]

Always nice to see people get excited about "weird things" they're passionate about.

[@jaystarr6571]

From what I can tell, I currently have the 16th world's largest collection of vintage styrofoam cups! (VSC) But this weekend I may be adding to that with some that I've been after for a while!!! *AND* Some of my current collection is about to mature!! _Not that that's weird or anything._

[@RisingRevengeance]

@@jaystarr6571 I mean if it makes you happy then that's all you need. I don't understand your hobby but I'd probably enjoy a video about it too.

[@8kigana]

I have a running joke with mom, she raised beautiful flowers and I raised deadly desert scorpions.

[@blahmonmonmon]

@@jaystarr6571 if you aren't being facetious i would honestly enjoy seeing what the 16th largest vintage styrofoam cup collection looks like. your description of it is nothing short of invigorating

[@_timetravels4528]

these are the most interesting people to listen to. Everything is interesting if you give it a chance. Hell now I want to know about VSC... how you get them, what a collection looks like, what kind of conversation these guys collecting them have, lmao.

[@azon6783]

Congratulations on 10 million subscribers veritasium. It was very well deserved!!!!

[@mlemz7766]

'The trade-off is always should I go out tonight, or should I stay in my hole'. I never thought I would agree with a scorpion but here we are

[@whyjnot420]

Its always great to see someone who so readily admits that their hypothesis was wrong. These are the people who really care about advancing the front of human knowledge.

[@danieljensen2626]

Despite what the media may suggest, that is in fact the norm in scientific communities.

[@generationfallout5189]

Daniel Jensen Smart people want the truth... even when it hurts. Even if it proves us wrong. Thinking in terms of the greater good. For humanity to actually be able to advance. We must share our losses for others to learn from as well. Its all relevant to our learning. Usually the truth just gets deeper and deeper. We must pursue the purest forms of truth and get as close as we can to understanding ourselves and this beautiful world. Without truth we can't reliably react and respond to our beautiful world. The world that we could make or break :(

[@Dockhead]

@@generationfallout5189 and society wants convenience and blind fold living regardless how much it impacts us individually.

[@54788654478087654345]

Whenever I think of truth seeking in science, I'm careful not to forget about Linus Pauling. Arguably one of the greatest chemists and physicists of all time, two time Nobel prize winner, he fell head over heels for vitamin C as a cure all for human health. This is exactly why argument from authority in the scientific discipline should be the weakest form of argument. Smart people are great at finding real patterns and fake patterns.

[@whyjnot420]

@@54788654478087654345 Personally I always think of the story told by Richard Dawkins of an old professor at his university, being proven completely wrong about a theory he had spent much of his life working on.... walking up to the lecturer who had just proven him wrong and in front of everyone who attended this lecture proceeded to thank the man for proving him wrong and thus adding to the sum total of mans knowledge. That is a wonderful ideal. It might be hard to live up to such a wonderful ideal, but that is precisely what makes something an ideal in the first place.

[@DashFlashTheLife]

"This fluoresces about the same color as a scorpion, but it's not a scorpion, it's actually a rock" I don't know why that made me laugh

[@tunahanyilmazdev]

2:22

[@user-bl4oq7fd8d]

It's actually a rock. What is it? It's plastic from Walpole. wtf

[@eyescreamcake]

It may in fact be a moth.

[@JoeBlac]

@@user-bl4oq7fd8d I know that's what the captioning says, but I think he says, "it's plastic from a milk bottle."

[@Getoverhere666]

rock lobster

[@rhyboy1]

i love people who are passionate and just become experts through that passion....... then we get to learn for them.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

This was wayyyy more interesting than I thought it would be ! Thank you 👍

[@samarthranjeprojects826]

Fun fact: Scorpions can hold their breath for 6 days. They have something called book lungs. They are layers of membranes- like pages of a book- in the exoskeleton of scorpions these membranes trap and hold their oxygen. However there is a species called the northern pseudoscorpion, can go up to 17 days without breathing. They are found in Canada, near the Arctic Circle. They are smaller than other scorpions. Hope this helps 😊

[@johankriel8883]

Baboons look for scorpions under rocks, as a snack. I've never had scorpion, except for a few stings, but now I'm curious. Could scorpions replace barium?

[@jtch6668]

Pseudoscorpions are not scorpions

[@autodidacticartisan]

Yeah thanks it does help it helps alot. Ive always wanted to challenge a scorpion to a breathe holding contest and now I know to make sure my opponent isnt a northern psuedoscorpion.

[@samarthranjeprojects826]

@@autodidacticartisanYour welcome!😉

[@samarthranjeprojects826]

@@jtch6668 they are scorpions

[@00kidney]

I'm not usually a fan of these creatures but this video really made me reevaluate them. Thank you for broadening my horizons!

[@AllAmericanGuyExpert]

Oh, come on. You are sitting around, presumably in your pajamas on a Saturday morning, drinking your coffee, REEVALUATING your fanaticism of scorpions? I find that hard to believe.

[@zhankazest]

@@AllAmericanGuyExpert i was about to say "i dont find that hard to believe" and some other stuff but then i realised its almost 5 am and maybe i shouldnt say something possiibley stupid when my brain is operating at the lowest possible speed im going to sleep now

[@I1am2me3DuhP]

@@zhankazest gary

[@devilous_4374]

wtf is this

[@zhankazest]

@@I1am2me3DuhP what

[@malkolmmonomoy7890]

Congrats on 10 mil, fascinating video!

[@waseemyousafzai1150]

Congratulations on reaching 10 million! Wish you more success!

[@AntsCanada]

I love scorpions and have a UV light fixated over mine!

[@relativedepression4604]

I cannot wait to see that horrible footage you just posted

[@domvasta]

I don't think that's good for them, mine rune away when I shine UV on them, and the video here said that exposing them to UV photobleached them, so be careful, don't put your enjoyment of an animal over that animal's wellbeing.

[@camogiraffe2736]

Why does this feal like you promoting your KZbin channel on Varitasium's video?

[@camogiraffe2736]

Love your videos by the way

[@afiqhyper1811]

Why is everyone being toxic antcanada is just saying he likes scorpion 😑😑

[@semicolonxd4076]

1:19 I've seriously never thought in my life that Veritasium is gonna use this music.

[@Articulate99]

Always interesting, thank you.

[@stevegamer273]

It's just really nice to watch your videos, I always learn something new and they make me thinking. So, congrats for 10mil subscribers!

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

So their entire body is like a light detector, letting them know when it is and isn't safe to hunt for food. Evolution really works in mysterious ways.

[@pogsauce9253]

Yes.

[@YourPhysicsSimulator]

Do you shave or are you genetically incapable of having a moustache?

[@fatty3910]

You are trying to be famous ? Hope you get sussecful

[@saikatchakraborty3182]

Dude how many videos do you watch a day?

[@ponyote]

Nature is amazing.

[@alexclovis4590]

I understand that the scorpions arguably had their ability to detect UV removed by bleaching the UV coating away, but how does this disprove the idea that the scorpions were not simply exposed to the UV light for so long that they were conditioned to it. This idea of course proposes that they have another system to detect UV rays, but I feel like with the information I was given about the test, it poses a small flaw (I do not know about scorpion psychology nor their ability to retain information or how they handle it, this is a mere thought I thought would be interesting to voice)

[@jasonlast7091]

I share the same thoughts however there seems to be other compounding evidence of the hypothesis so I suspect it is fairly accurate if not precise. I think it's also worth noting that more than one hypothesis can be true and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[@twilightknight123]

Not even conditioned to it, but maybe even their eyes were damaged beyond function. If they were in UV for so long that it photobleached the entire body, they were certainly in there long enough to do damage to the (human) eye. I only work with lasers so I don't know how scorpion and human eyes differ.

[@wmopp9100]

@@twilightknight123 exactly, not a good test at all. why not use full spectrum vs non-UV light to test this.

[@balasubramaniana9541]

@@wmopp9100 if UV light is invisible to the human eye, then how it appears in violet colour?

[@matts2956]

@@balasubramaniana9541 Two reasons: most cheap/consumer UV flash lights and bulbs don't perfectly emit a single wavelength, they emit a range of wavelengths that's strongest in the UVA range but also emit some light in the visible range. You cannot see the beam of an expensive UV laser since it's focused to a narrower range of wavelengths; that also makes UV lasers extremely dangerous since you cannot tell if the beam is pointed at your eye. The other not-as-major reason is that there isn't a distinct line between visible light and UV light; the eyes can faintly detect some light at the boundary of the UV range but not enough to see UV light in any meaningful way.

[@GabTheAdventurer]

10 Million Subscribers, congratulations! Been waiting for a long time.

[@nikkifawkes6776]

Great vid as always!

[@DoiInthanon1897]

I can’t imagine what this guy can’t cover in his videos. The epitome of knowledge is right here folks

[@timseguine2]

"We have bodily fluids that fluoresce" Ah, yes, I see you have seen those news exposés as well.

[@wallaroo1295]

When I was a Police Officer, my agency has our National Academy in a southern state - for advanced classes, we stayed at a really cheap government contract Travel Lodge, in a really bad neighborhood. Prostitution, drugs - the run. It was a horrible place to have lodging while you went to advanced classes for weeks at a time. Until the students from the Crime Scene Investigator classes started doing testing on the conditions of their rooms and sending the results to their Senators... LaQuinta picked up the contract! Eww, but LOL at the same time.

[@LemonToGo]

Never turn on a UV lamp in a teenagers room.

[@jezzbanger]

Surely this invites hypothesis 7, all scorpions are participants/victims of certain erotic acts.

[@wallaroo1295]

Scorps like the bukake I guess! LOL

[@wallaroo1295]

@@jezzbanger With corresponding six-figure grant funding for five years of "research."

[@JohnnySins0]

Veritasium always finds a way to make people's day happier, he has inspired me to start my own channel🦂🦂

[@professorxgaming2070]

I like the defense mechanism to detect how visible they are to their predators hypothesis. Really awesome video. Really makes you think about evolution

[@jackbarbey]

I'd like to hear more about the sensory hypothesis. It seems to me that if, in order to make a scorpion non florescent, he has to light them for long periods with a UV light, those particular scorpions might have adapted their behavior to the increased UV environment, thus explaining the behavioral differences.

[@yooviyo]

Was looking for exactly this comment before I'd post it myself. Thanks.

[@unsapient2197]

Wow this is a great point

[@8kigana]

UV light is more dangerous for scorpions and creatures (lessens their glow after a period of exposure and causes more stress). It's a good way to kill them. Besides scorpions are nocturnal and don't need light to hunt.

[@whitenoise509]

Did the study about scorpions sensing light rule out the possibility of them reacting to heat output? At the time that study took place light bulbs were extremely inefficient, producing an abysmal amount of light compared to their heat output.

[@jamesbullo]

I have doubts about their findings in the 1968 experiment. Clearly I don't have it to read in detail but sounds more like...we painted sunglasses over their eyes and they could still detect light. So it must be from their body 🤪

[@odeia18]

​@@jamesbullo i was skeptical about that too

[@alexschalk5439]

@@jamesbullo I imagine there have been followup studies since then. I dunno how thicck the paint is, but it seems plausible it could block all light

[@jamesbullo]

@@alexschalk5439 I looked at the reference link for the 1968 report on it's findings but it seems only the abstract from the report is a available for free. Here is a quote from said abstract. "A chance observation suggested that in the scorpion part of this activity might be an artefact caused by the illumination of the metasoma (the “tail”)." A chance observation doesn't sound like it was repeated. If there are more recent experiments seems the video didn't mention them.

[@thestragequack3598]

Yoh! 10M🥳 Congratulations my man!🎊❤️

[@amiemarieart]

New subscriber here, I've never been great at maths or physics, but I'm am actually loving learning everything in your videos, you've made it exciting and I am finding myself asking "why & how" on everything around me 😁

[@SurajKumar-xs9ig]

This video seemed like a small botany class of PANDORA's ecosystem, with all the bio-fluorescence.

[@DracarmenWinterspring]

I think the stuff on Pandora was bioluminescent (emitting its own light, rather than sort of reflecting light in a different color like fluorescence does). There's even a soundtrack from Avatar called "bioluminescence of the night".

[@ignitionnight]

I loved this episode, rather than having something explained we got to follow the scientific method a researcher followed which was really cool.

[@ikasuki1]

Congratulation on 10M and providing us with wonder and digestible knowledge for all those years :)

[@kokickss2488]

Congrats on 10M subscribers! also love watching your videos, keep it up.

[@madiis18account]

I was literally *just* discussing this with a professor from Melbourne University who studies colour in invertebrates! Het name is Devi Stuart-Fox, if you're ever able to come back to Melbourne you should totally reach out to her, she's great

[@tobisenpai6161]

Sus

[@ParrotX2]

All fun and games till you mistake one for a glow stick

[@remko1]

nice checkmark

[@zk4yearsago958]

@@Rogue_Sniper verification tick

[@youtubeusername1489]

Cursed glow stick

[@steveh6039]

Congrats on 10 mil!

[@linussyren9221]

I love these kind of videos that show stuff I usually wouldn’t have stumbled upon :)

[@lohitnagar5700]

“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” -Martin Buber

[@maeton-gaming]

some of them say "i'm tasty"! :)

[@Aphrodite10]

@@maeton-gaming haha

[@Aphrodite10]

@@maeton-gaming and some of them say I'm hungry 😂

[@brianhale3678]

Correct, the works of God are unmistakable.

[@brianhale3678]

God does good work.

[@vipa1737]

Alternate title: Torturing scorpions until they tell us why they’re florescent

[@squeakybunny2776]

It's called research...

[@anuj2991]

@@squeakybunny2776 it's called a joke....

[@squeakybunny2776]

@@anuj2991 lots of people are against such scientific research... It's sad but it is reality

[@girishradhakrishnan2699]

@@anuj2991 Please don't kill mosquito at night or use repellent, don't torture them. LOL

[@qabrm5367]

Well....not only scorpions

[@atulkumar943]

@Verisatium Congratulations for 10 Millions man!! Keep it up broo

[@AverageBrethren]

Scorpions: have a fluorescence feature for a specified reason. Humans: lmao scorpion finding flashlight.

[@ryanchowdhary965]

Now I understand why scorpions have the ability to pierce through metal plates.

[@TheSulross]

in movies I think the scorpions all get upgraded to titanium

[@ryanchowdhary965]

@@TheSulross no, maybe orcahilacum or adamantite.

[@Dev-qk2ox]

Isn't it amazing that some people say that there's no chance of alien life when we're discovering new things on our planet still today! There is no great filter we've just not looked long enough and I'm positive that there's definitely something out there :)

[@renderproductions1032]

Well there is definitely something out there if the universe is infinite, but that doesn’t mean it is possible for us to find aliens. The speed of light is finite, after all.

[@renderproductions1032]

@King Pistachion happy to be constantly urinating?

[@HaganConnell]

@King Pistachion I wish KZbin showed dislikes on comments so you could have the opportunity to realize how little positive impact comments like those have on the people around you.

[@Filiolus]

@@HaganConnell it was nice back in the day when you could, but it led to mass disliking. Now it just flags it as offensive or sends it down the main comment list sadly.

[@johnlucas6683]

There is most definitely other life forms outside our Earth. The question is are there other intelligent lifeforms?

[@Aqua2D]

Congrats on 10mil dude. well deserved!

[@TrollinGear]

I feel like deserve a diploma after watching all these videos I have learned so much more from this amazing channel, than I have ever learned in my 12 years of schooling

[@livnenir]

2 things to note: 1) showing us the different hypothesis and the path of since was great here:) 2) thats the first time a sponsor I'll be clicking a sponsor link!!

[@rledoux99]

cool transition @ 9:26 ..🤯.. it's been awesome watching this channel transform from a nerdy Ontario student's basement hobby into the popular & professional world-renowned viewing experience it is now. Informative & inspiring, thanks Derek! 🙏

[@Real_koyo]

Video editing is next level great job

[@prathamsrivastava5867]

Congo Sir, for reaching 100 subscribers👏👏. You make amazing videos that includes science and truth. Great work.👍 Hats off to you Sir. Love 💙 from India 🇮🇳

[@diophantine1598]

Veritasium is really on a roll! I commend the frequent releases.

[@JusNoBS420]

So much sea life actually sees in Ultra Violet. When you watch deep sea diving videos were they use UV cameras the ocean floor looks completely different and colorful

[@LimeyLassen]

same thing with flowers

[@subhashinishivamurthy5010]

Congrats on 10 mil subs mate

[@MrKelenek]

What has always intrigued me about scorpions is their shape... The overhead stinger, its so unique looking.

[@ermanakar]

Man, you are the epitome of being productive when you do something you love.

[@youtubersingingmoments4402]

5:40 has by far the strangest spelling of "camouflage" I've ever seen.

[@vickielawson3114]

I noticed that, too. I can’t believe they got that wrong.

[@ricinuss1953]

😄 i saw it too. Just a mistake…

[@cognitiveconsonancescience2937]

They were trying to camouflage the word camouflage.

[@TheVirtualArena24]

Finally 10m subs congratulations Derek

[@going4it914]

Congrats on 10 milion subs dude!! You really deserve it man… :D

[@Xitoshi]

Clickbait title: "Six crazy hypothesis for why scorpions are fluorescent. You won't believe the 5th!"

[@Mark-Wilson]

so smart how did you think of that lol

[@renderproductions1032]

|-O-| Derek might actually change it to this.

[@hariomkushwaha9773]

Damn bro, you are good at this.. i should probably partner you for writing titles for my youtube lol.

[@cedricgiraud2679]

"Top 6 crazy things about scorpions that emit light! The 5th is mindblowing!"

[@cognitiveconsonancescience2937]

I wish my clickbait game was as strong as that.

[@stephmaccormick3195]

5:00 That experiment would be interesting to replicate with lights that don't emit heat, like LEDs or something similar.

[@crackwitz]

or add filters that remove everything but UV and compare that to the same level of UV but with other light too or test an equivalent amount of total energy all in UV vs. spread across the spectrum

[@kdrecords4562]

Your 10 million following is well deserved, Derek.

[@baconboi7786]

Very well congratulated for 10 million!

[@emre5423]

Congrats on 10 million Derek, I've been a subscriber for quite a while now, and I think this channel is one of the best channels on KZbin! Thank you for making quality videos, and allowing us to learn new things :)

[@gingeroots1405]

Destin is only shy by 20k subscribers. Come on guys!

[@ainukoinu7862]

@@gingeroots1405 Smarter every day!!!!!!

[@ainukoinu7862]

@@gingeroots1405 Laminar flow!!! Snatch blocks!!! Rupert's drops!! aaAAAAHHHH

[@jackwaechter2449]

You’re about to 10 million subs. Totally deserved congrats

[@Muscleduck]

This is so fascinating!

[@NaturalSelection-gn3nn]

Congrats on 10 mil

[@Kknewkles]

"Moonlight Greatclaw" Would be pretty cool if Ludwig turned into a scorpion on a whim

[@chasemarkovetz1279]

Oh man a Scorpion esque blood borne boss would be so cool

[@Terranova339]

I love nature and biology, a lot more than physics and math. keep these coming!

[@schimonshagedorun8067]

i never knew i needed to know more about this topic

[@lyger_playz]

00:57 "I'm going to grab my high-tech scorpion catching equipment here." *pulls out a bottle and a stick

[@gekkkoincroe]

Well if he used any less ,he would have been stung and dead

[@AppNasty]

Funny when he mentions that it may be used for sensory and jokes that "some" have hypothesized it. Like, to him that's funny. To us it sounds normal. That's when you know this guy is a scorpion nerd.

[@gekkkoincroe]

What I don't get you is sounds normal to me even if you explained it

[@mcig98]

CONGRATS ON 10 MIL YOOOO

[@moicr96]

I love the animation in these videos

[@Hypercube9]

Little known fact: Scorpions love to rave! They can even play records with their tail!

[@quecksilber457]

Yeah they are really old-school. They only play vinyl records. :)

[@quaidbergo]

And their favourite record is Winds Of Change.

[@Hypercube9]

@@quaidbergo Right because who doesn't like hearing a slow rock ballad at a rave?

[@quaidbergo]

@@Hypercube9 😂 fair point.

[@auroraramadani8065]

@@quecksilber457 ,&¥£!-