Watermelon Venom: Deadly Deliciousness

Who doesn’t look at a watermelon and instantly think Venom? It’s hard not to, right? Well instead of just thinking it, Italian sculptor Valeriano Fatica went and made our collective thoughts reality, carving Venom’s head out of a watermelon. I’ll be honest though, that does not look like a tongue I’d want in my ear. Or teeth I’d want nibbling my ear. As a matter of fact just stay away from my ears, Venom.

Valeriano says he works predominately in fruit and vegetables but also dabbles in cheese, clay, and rock. Out of those carvings, I would only eat the first three. Still, who knew you could carve such an impressive bust out of a melon? The only thing I’ve ever done with a watermelon is accidentally swallow a seed and get scared a plant was growing inside my stomach, which my parents said was probably the case. And they wonder why I have trust issues.

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Robots Are Now Milking Scorpions

Humans are milking cows to feed other humans, but robots are now milking scorpions. Ha ha! Stupid robots! Seriously though, there’s a reason that robots are milking scorpions. The robots are designed to extract and store venom, making this process easier and safer for scientists who work with bugs.


Researchers at the Ben M’sik Hassan II University in Morocco say that their robot also speeds up the extraction process. Scorpion venom is used in a variety of medical fields, like cancer research, and antimalarial drugs. Current harvesting methods are often deadly for the scorpions and not great for scientists either, due to electric shocks from the equipment. Besides, no one wants to hold a deadly scorpion.

The robot works by clamping the scorpion’s tail and electrically simulating the animal to get droplets of venom, which it captures and stores, and it doesn’t harm the scorpion. Let’s just hope the robots don’t start stockpiling the stuff and start using it on human victims during the inevitable robopocalypse.

[via Engadget]

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