uh.. It's disturbing, on several different levels.

Especially if you're a man... So you know on

Smarter Every Day I try to keep everything very intelligent and respectful, but this

video is crazy. Like, you need to think about whether or not you want to watch this.

Because now that I know this happens, I have nightmares.

And they're not good.. [laugh] They're not good nightmares ok?

So you just think about whether or not you want to know this information. Do you want to know it?

OK... Introduction.

- Talk to me. Give an introduction right now. (Destin) Hey it's me Destin welcome to Smarter Every Day. I'm in the

Amazon rainforest. [little girl squeal] - [laughter] [clapping] Yes!

- Speaking of the penis tree, what this guy does

he uh.. yeah. It's the.. pretty much the

third most venemous spider in the world.

Phoneutria fera

I'm gonna stay this far away. - They're really agressive.

Should we see how aggressive they are? - Alright, most likely it's

gonna hop down, but let's see if we can get him to rear up.

- Oh.. Oh no he's like.. (Destin) Holy cow, he's fast.

- Who's gonna put it on their face then? - Nooo.

- You go ahead. - Yeah. - Will also cause a condition called a priapism in males.

(Destin) Priapism. Oh yeah, ice water enema to fix that? Yep.

OK this spider is called the Brazillian Wandering Spider, and if you heard what Phil said, he said

it causes this condition in males. I assume that means not in females.

And there's only a couple of things I can think of that can happen to a male but not to a female.

Anyway, we'll come back to that. - If you look underneath that front leg,

you see how it's got banding? Black, white and black.

Can you see that from this angle? See that? - Yes.

- So, when it gets really mad it flips those up in the air and then you can see that

black white black white. That's kind of a warning signal.

(Destin) It's called a wandering spider? - Yeah. - Because he doesn't make webs?

- Correct (Destin) Alright, well I'm done with the third most venemous spider

in the world. - Is she done with you?

- That's the question. (Destin) OK you're on a jungle walk, an entomologist tells you that this spider

can affect the penis. Obviously the first thing you do is you get the books out, find out

priapism is a medical emergency involving the penis,

which is terrifying. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go to this hospital, we're gonna

go find a urologist. We're gonna ask him what are the causes of priapism, and number two

and more importantly, what are the fixes for priapism. So we're gonna go in here,

I know it's funny, hahaha, Destin's talking about a penis, but think about it. If you're a male

or you know a male, you need to know this information. So, if I have to

take the hit, I'll do it. I'll try not to blush, but if he's a urologist chances are he's either really

funny or really boring, so.. I don't know. Let's go get Smarter Every Day.

Missed the door. Dr Sergey Ananyev? Am I saying that right?

- That's right. - And you are a uh.. let me get this.. urologist?

Which is a... - Glorified pecker checker. [laugh]

- Excellent, OK so show me what we're doing here. What is going on

with the erection? - Well, erection is a

by-product of both nerves and blood vessels working

together once a man gets excited. Our penises consist of

two chambers that have one way valves. Those two chambers are called

cavernosal bodies, and they communicate to each other.

- They communicate with each other like hydraulically? - As in, yeah sideways yeah like

fenestrations. - Is it priapism or preeapism? - It's priapism,

and priapism by definition is a prolonged erection

that is unwanted, that usually lasts four hours or longer.

- OK so what does that have to do with a spider in the rainforest?

That's why I'm hear talking to you. - The spider in the rainforest, once it gets hold

of you, is able to stimulate and effect

a certain pathway which on the molecular level effects

nitric oxide. You'll have this nitric oxide release, which is a molecule. - Right.

- That would in turn stimulate another molecule, that will then

relax the muscles inside the penis.

- So the nitric oxide is what activates whatever this is..

- It's a step in the ladder, yeah. To eventually relax the muscle

of the penis to allow the blood flow in. - OK so it's a valve.

- Uh, well yeah nitric oxide is just the molecule that helps open the door for

a valve but yeah. What you'll actually do is you have.. they're in a way

one way valves where the blood flow goes in once a man is excited

for whatever reason. - Yeah? - Whether a partner or a spider. [laugh]

- OK. - Once the blood flow goes in the one way valves will close and the blood can't come out.

- You just made me think about something really strange. So, I'm an engineer

and when I was at school we had to do this equation in something called

differential equations. And it was inflow and outflow.

And so the rate of inflow vs the rate of outflow determined the internal

fluid inside.. so there is a differential equation, you can express it

like mathematically to determine the rate

of which that will do what it does. OK there's math

on the screen, I'm starting to get a little bit more comfortable now. So, the design of the penis is pretty interesting.

It's like two balloons that are stacked side by side and you have an input and an output into the system.

If you throttle these flow rates you can generate this expanding control

volume and that's the erection. Now Dr Ananyev will install these prosthetic devices

into men who suffer from ED. It happens to men of all ages by the way.

So he decided to demonstrate how this biomechanical system works in the body by just

showing us one of these devices. So this prosthesis that you.. This is what you do right?

You insert these into the human body right? - It's one of the many things we do.

- These are the caverns right? - These are the two cavernosal bodies. When one

gets excited, there's an increase in blood flow to both of those bodies.

And I will demonstrate it by the virtue of this mechanical pump.

- So you've got a hydraulic pump and you're squeezing it. - That's right.

- So you're pumping that there, and that's taking fluid from

there.. - From the reservoir, which would be your blood stream.

To the end organ, which would be the two cavernosal bodies in the penis.

- OK, so that's how.. - And then a one way valve that keeps the

blood from outflowing. - Gotcha. So once that

happens, then.. you know..

sexual activity happens and then.. - You feeling a little uncomfortable Destin? - [laugh] I am a little uncomfortable.

You actually deal with uncomfortable situations all day long every day, don't you.

- That's my defense mechanism yeah. - That's fantastic. So the outflow, is this?..

You have it in the same valve here, so how does it happen in the human body? - In the human body

when a man reaches a climax, certain chemicals

are released that are allowing those valves to open.

In the case of priapism what'll happen Destin is that you will have an increased

blood flow, but instead of climaxing

and allowing those one way valves to open and allow the blood flow

back out, the blood stays in for a prolonged amount of

time as I mentioned about four hours or longer. And when that happens the blood inside

these cavernosal bodies becomes what we call ischemic, which means deprived

of oxygen, and as it becomes deprived of oxygen and clots it

becomes very thick. That in turn makes the problem worse because

it's a lot harder for now the thick blood to get out even if the valves were working.

- So what do you do? - There are a couple of ways to

fix the problem. - Yeah? - You would start off by trying to take a cold shower.

I'll see if I can get some more tape for Mr Skeleton

- Does it cause permanent damage? Like people can.. - If you do not reverse it

within about four hours it can usually lead to

irreversible scarring and permanent loss of erection. - Can you die?

- Usually.. I have not in my limited experience seen

anybody die of priapism but you can definitely suffer. So if the cold shower

and then the medications do not work, the next step of the process is to actually

drain the engorged blood

inside the penis, with a needle.

- With a needle? - That's right.

- So.. You showed me the two caverns, there's a cavern on each side, so you have to

drain them independently? - No you do not. Those caverns communicate, so..

- They have a.. - There is one good thing about this. Yeah usually you'll be able to

drain it from one side while the other

side spontaneously... - Deflates? Is that the term? - Yep.

That would be the term. - How big is that needle?

- It's big enough to hurt. A lot of times you would talk to the patient about numbing

of the area, but by that time you have to stick them twice, and they're fairly uncomfortable

so what you end up having to do is go at approximately mid shaft

and stick the needle all the way inside their cavernosal

body, and then drain what would have the consistency

of tomato paste by that time. - Really? - Or grape jelly.

- Does.. Oh my goodness. - You would have to do this multiple times.

A lot of times if the blood is really clotted you will end up having to actually

remove the clot and then inject sterile salt water in there and then irrigate

it back out. Once you irrigate it out, it can come back within

5-10 minutes, and you would actually repeat the process, and for the poor

folks in who the condition keeps returning you have to go to more drastic measures.

- [nervously] Like?

- Like going up in size, and instead of a needle, using a scalpel. Most of the time

they would require sedation or sometimes a trip to the emergency room. What you would actually have

to drive the scalpel through the head of the penis.. - Are you serious? - And ream it

90 degrees. - Are.. are you being serious right now? - Yeah unfortunately

- Really? - Mm hmm. - And so then that fluid would come out

that open.. [Heavy breath intake] - It would actually create what we call a shunt

by virtue of a big size. That shunt will

allow the blood.. - I'm having trouble breathing right now. [laugh] This is bad! - Yeah

- So, at that point how do you.. - That's why I hate spiders.

- [laugh] Good gracious! Oh man! There's really nothing more

to say is there? - No. - So actually in the head?

- That's right. - Or is it called the glans? It's called the glans right? - Yes that's the proper name, glans penis.

- Glans? So.. Does it.. Obviously there's damage, there's

permanent damage because of that. There can, but there's definitely gonna be permanent damage without it.

- Last thing, how often do you see this problem? Obviously not from spider bites but.. - Well it depends

on the community in which you are in, but we'll probably see it two or three times a year.

- So it's pretty rare. - It's fairly rare and you would usually be able to

identify one by the risk factors whether it's a

predisposing disease like a sickle cell or overdose in medications

that help you get to a happy place to begin with. - Oh I see. Well thank you very much for your time,

I appreciate it. Yep. Take it easy. OK in su