For two weeks this February, the infinity chili pepper
held the world record for being the hottest pepper on Earth;
so dangerous, it was hotter than the chemicals used in hand grenades
by the Indian military.
But is the infinity chili pepper the best hot pepper of all time?
Not anymore— to find out why,
all aboard the BOAT.
[BOAT] [♪ music ♪]
Let's begin with what makes hot peppers hot—
a chemical called capsaicin.
It's not acidic or anything— in fact, it's an alkaline oil,
and the unique shape of the molecule
means that it does some pretty weird things to mammals.
Mammals have a specific type of nerve cell that detects pain
from heat and abrasion— now, what's weird about capsaicin
is that it will attach to those receptors
and cause calcium ions to flow in,
making us think that we're burning or that we're injured,
and that's why hot peppers are hot.
The heat of a pepper is measured in Scoville Heat Units.
The basic way they calculate this is by seeing how much you have to dilute
an extract of the pepper before nobody can taste it
in a glass of sugar water.
Coming in at zero Scoville heat units are things like bell peppers,
which have no noticeable heat.
Between 100 and 500, you'll find things like banana peppers
and the little pimentos inside olives.
Jalapenos and Tabasco sauce can rate as high
as 8,000 Scoville heat units, but habaneros
can rate as high as 350,000.
But that's just kid stuff— at the beginning of this episode,
I mentioned the infinity chili, which for two weeks in February
was the world record holder for hottest pepper,
but then in the middle of February, a man in the UK
named Gerald Fowler cross-bred two of the hottest peppers on Earth,
the Bhut Jolokia and the Naga Morich,
to create a child pepper that he called the Naga Viper.
Laboratories tested the pepper and found that on the Scoville scale,
it ranked in at 1.3 million,
making it the current world record holder for hottest pepper on Earth,
but the race continues.
Just a couple of months ago, a new strain
of the Trinidad Scorpion emerged, simply called Butch T.
A lab that tested it found that it ranked
at 1.4 million Scoville Heat Units—
so hot that in order to cook with it, the cultivators
had to wear chemical masks and body suits
and felt numbness in their hands for more than two days.
When its measurements become official, it will be the reigning champ
for hottest pepper, but let's stop talking
about edible peppers and move on to things that are weapons.
1.4 million Scoville Heat Units— please.
Law enforcement-grade pepper spray clocks in
at 5.5 million.
[spraying sounds] [coughing sounds]
And pure capsaicin is so dangerous, it has its own fire diamond warning code in the US.
On the scale, pure capsaicin sits way up at 16 million.
Oh, but we're not even done there.
Capsaicin can't get any hotter, but it does have molecular analogs
that are more dangerous.
The resin spurge is a cactus found in Morocco.
It's not a pepper, and it doesn't contain capsaicin,
but it does contain a waxy latex substance
that works just like capsaicin, except 1,000 times more efficiently.
It's called resiniferatoxin.
Just like capsaicin, resiniferatoxin attaches to those cells
responsible for feeling abrasion and heat pain,
but instead of stimulating them by letting a little bit of calcium in,
it lets so much calcium in that the nerve cell walls break
and the cell dies.
What this means is that resiniferatoxin
is so hot, it actually doesn't always cause pain.
It'll just cause the death of cells that make you feel pain.
For this reason, doctors have found
that if they inject doses of resiniferatoxin into the spinal cords of dogs
suffering pain because of terminal bone cancer,
those dogs will feel no pain and be able to play
and frolic for months afterwards.
So what are you waiting for?
Get out there and order some jalapeno poppers and feel the heat.
Speaking of the heat, I'm going to be in Miami this weekend.
In fact, I'm probably flying there right now— Kevin helped me upload this video.
Next week, we've got some really awesome stuff.
IMG, Loot, and a new episode of Vsauce Lean Back I'm very excited about.
So stay tuned, and as always, thanks for watching.
[Vsauce 2]