Michael Smith: The Scientist Who Purposefully Put Bees To Sting His Penis And Testicles!

Bee sting (credit)

Sometimes scientists do some really weird experiments. And by weird I mean, really, really weird! What is the driving force? Curiosity? Boredom? Perhaps stupidity? Well, I think a combination of all these three along with some bravery for topping was what was needed for the experiment  Michael Smith did while being a grad student at Cornell University.

Our story begins a few years ago with our hero getting stung by a bee in one of the worst places a man can be stung. His testicles! Most men would be permanently traumatized by the experience. But Michael isn't most men. Instead he decided to go on a journey. A journey to answer the question that has plagued mankind for centuries:

What is the most painful place to get stung by a bee?

If only he was a nazi researcher back in the 1940s.... Getting...volunteers was so much easier back then! Now the legislations make the life of researchers so much difficult when it comes to human experiments.

Michael didn't have time to deal with legal mumbo jumbo so instead run the experiment like a real man. All by himself. He would be both the researcher and the guinea pig. All he needed was a some bees and he was set to go. 

In total, Michael designed an experiment with twenty-five sting locations throughout the body. The experiment was so meticulously designed that Michael actually received "approximately 5 stings per day for three months BEFORE the experiment, so no changes in his immune system were to be expected over the course of the experiment ".

If you go and read the actual paper you will be really impressed by the lengths he went to make sure he would measure something subjective like pain as best as humanly possible. And no pain would stop him from doing a job well done. He was even willing to get stung in the eye (WTF?!) but didn't because doctors advised him not to do so cause there was a good chance he would go blind...Pffff...Why are doctors such big wusses everytime?

The areas Michael got stung by bees (credit)

After getting stung over another 38 days in areas like his penis, testicles, nipples, ears and other sensitive and not-so-sensitive places the results were out:

• The three least painful locations were the skull, middle toe tip, and upper arm 
• The three most painful locations were the nostril, upper lip, and penis shaft

There is only one problem I see with Michael's experiment: 

Although it does answer the question "what is the most painful place for a man to get stung by a bee" it doesnt answer the question "what  is the most painful place for a woman to get stung by a bee". Do I have a female volunteer?