If, and it’s a big if, you could choose anywhere on your body to be stung by a honey bee, where would it be?
“Please God, not there!” must have been Michael Smith’s thoughts when he saw a bee fly straight up his shorts. So he was surprised to discover that being stung in the testicles wasn’t as excruciatingly painful as you’d imagine.
For most people, that modicum of curiosity would suffice, but being a scientist at Cornell University, Michael wanted to know more. In the interests of science, he stung himself not once but repeatedly at 25 predetermined points on his body, ranging from the armpit to the upper thigh, and rated the pain on a scale of 1-10.
The results, ladies and gentlemen, are in. Well if you do get the chance, try marshalling an irate bee towards your skull, middle toe tip or upper arm (all of which scored a bearable 2.3). And the areas to shield at all costs… the penis shaft (7.3), upper lip (8.7) and nostril (9.0), where Michael’s reactions were especially violent, involving sneezing, tears and lots of mucus. A worthy winner of 2015’s Ig Nobel award for Physiology and Entomology we’re sure you’ll agree.
And now we know the most painful place to be stung, we can turn our attention to why. Volunteers for the follow-up study should send their applications to I M A Nutter at…..
