Researcher Subjects Himself to Multiple Bee Stings to Test Pain
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Tsekhmister/Thinkstock(ITHACA, N.Y.) — Never before has one graduate student done so much to further the study of bee stings.
Michael Smith with Cornell University’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior decided to find out what parts of the body hurt the most after getting stung by ranking the pain from a high of 10 to a low of one.
Since asking someone to subject themselves to such a controversial and excruciating experiment might be asking too much, Smith, who is studying honeybee colonies, was his own guinea pig, subjecting himself to getting stung three times each in 25 different locations over 38 days.
Of course, getting stung in his private parts was particularly painful but the worst pain occurred when the bee got him in the nostril.
Here’s a list of the top 10 most painful stings with accompanying ratings:
- Nostril – 9.0
- Upper lip – 8.7
- Penis – 7.3
- Scrotum – 7.0
- Palm – 7.0
- Cheek – 7.0
- Armpit – 6.7
- Nipple – 6.7
- Middle finger tip – 6.7
- Abdomen – 6.7
Smith even flirted with getting stung in the eyeball until he was talked out of it. He also said this was a one-time experiment.
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