Just like all other jobs, the scientific community has had its fair share of crazy jobs, they are pretty much an unavoidable part of life. Most of the craziest experiments have all been conducted on the scientists themselves, probably because they couldn’t find anyone else crazy enough to agree to do it, no matter how noble the cause.
Smelling People’s Armpits
Ever wonder how deodorant makers figure out how to make their products (and you) smell good? For the sake of science, and the public’s sensibilities, some people make a living off of smelling people’s armpits to determine how effective the products are. Without this profession, we wouldn’t know which deodorants work and which ones don’t. We need people to be smelling armpits in the name of science and for our own peace of mind. It would be terrible to buy a deodorant and it didn’t work.
Intentionally Getting Stung for Over 10 Years
The insect pain index came about because Justin O Schmidt got curious about insect bites and stings and intentionally got himself stung, pinched, and bit for over ten years for the sake of research and to document his findings. Schmidt came up with the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, commonly referred to as the insect pain index, by intentionally getting bitten and stung for over 10 years by different bugs and pests.
Human Crash Test Dummy
The US air force wanted to find out if their pilots would survive ejection from an aircraft moving at supersonic speeds. In order to find out, flight surgeon John Paul Stapp decided to subject himself to some physically demanding experiments. He suffered concussions, blackouts, broken bones, fractured ribs and horrific headaches, and yet he continued with the experiment. Stapp tested the air force’s theory several times. He carefully observed its effects each time and mostly concluded that they would survive but it would be painful. He was a literal human crash test dummy.
There are so many things that people have done in the name of science. They smelled people’s armpits, intentionally got stung for over 10 years, and became human crash test dummies. Each of these things, and so many more, are the reason for the modern technology and medicines we have today. We owe scientists a lot more than we think we do. They have literally done everything they can to find answers to our questions.
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