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  • Alright, so this video may not be appropriate for kids, and it is

  • 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 summary I hope you don't feel

  • like I was being rude or crude or disrespectful at any point in this. This is a serious issue

  • and I hope I got the information into your brain in a pretty interesting and fun way. Speaking

  • of serious I'm still not working on Fridays for pay, I'm furloughed.

  • So that's a pretty big deal as a dad. So I'm more than happy to tell you about my sponsor.

  • Audible.com/smarter. Audible.com they have audio

  • books and you can go to audible.com/smarter and get a free one. They want me to tell

  • you about a book you can listen to that has something to do with the video, but I don't think we want to hear the

  • word erection one more time if we can avoid it. So, I'm gonna do you one better. Love.

  • There's a book by C.S.Lewis and actually read by C.S.Lewis on audible called

  • The Four Loves. There's one word in english, love. In Greek there's four.

  • There's eros, there's agape, filia and storge. Eros

  • is erotic love, think about the video, but these other three are very interesting. Particularly

  • storge, I didn't know about it. So once I understood the four loves my interaction with

  • people in my life changed. It was very interesting and I think it's good for you to at least explore that.

  • Anyway, audible.com/smarter you get a free audio book.

  • You're smart. You know what's up here. I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day.

  • Have a good one. OK so how long does it take.. I mean how long will this last?

  • Several years in a man? - That depends on the wear and tear. - [snort]

  • You're awful. - That's not a joke. - I got it. I can't.. I can't

  • do this. [laugh]

  • This... is a tree that grows in the rainforest

  • And it has odd shaped things on it.

  • The end.

  • [ Captions by Andrew Jackson ] captionsbyandrew.wordpress.com

  • Captioning in different languages welcome. Please contact Destin if you can help.

Alright, so this video may not be appropriate for kids, and it is

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