After getting prick by a bee , you might make a note to be more careful of your environs in the future . Michael Smith had a much unlike reaction when a bee stung him in the testicles one daytime . As an bugologist who contemplate honeybees , he was urge on by the showdown to create a map of the most abominable places to get bite on the human body . recognise he would have problem finding willing volunteers , Smith elected to be his own mental testing subject .
harmonize toNational Geographic , Smith tested 25 different physical structure parts , exposing each blot to three stinging over the form of 38 days for his study , which was published inPeerJin 2014 . To induce the stings , he picked up Apis mellifera specimens by the offstage and held their stinger up to his peel for a full minute . He rated the pain of each sting on a scale of measurement of 1 to 10 , and started and end all tests with a " mental test confidence game " on his forearm for compare .
The most awful places to get bite by a bee , in Smith ’s experience , are n’t the part you may expect . A sting in the scrotum , the incident that exhort the bailiwick , incur a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale . It was rated just as painful as stingers in the palm , cheek , and axillary cavity . More torturing is a sting to the penis shaft ( 7.3 ) , upper back talk ( 8.7 ) , and nostril ( 9 ) . Smith reported that being stung in the nose triggered " sneezing , bout , and a plentiful flow of mucus . " He hypothesize that the alluvion of mucus may be the body ’s defense mechanism against a bee attack in the wild .
Other eubstance parts ranked at the paired end of the infliction spectrum . sting to the upper branch , tip of the halfway toe , and top of the skull all averaged a rating of 2.3 out of 10 . Smith compared getting stung on the scalp to having an testis smash on his head .
Though some may question the value of getting prick on purpose nearly 200 times in the name of science , Smith ’s hard work was acknowledge . In 2015 , he receive anIg Nobel loot : an laurels that honorsscientific achievements"that first make people laugh , then make them recall . "
[ h / tNational Geographic ]
