If you've ever been stung by a bee, then you'll know that it hurts. A lot! This one Cornell grad got stung in the worst place possible - his testicles. Because of that, he set off on a journey to find out where the worst places on your body to get stung by a bee are.

Did we mention he is also going to test it all on himself? Entomologist Justin Schmidt created the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which is used to quantify pain caused by insect stings. Michael Smith went out to grab bees by the wings and press them angry insects against various parts of his body.

The sting on each area would last for one minute before it is removed, to which Smith would then rate the pain on a scale of one to 10.



But isn't pain fairly subjective? Doesn't everyone have a different threshold of pain? Smith knows this, and he was systematic in his method as humanly possible. He would subject himself to that torture with five stings a day, which took place between 9 and 10am.

He even stung himself on the forearm before and after each round of bee encounters as a way of calibrating the results.

After 38 straight days, and possibly all bruised everywhere, Smith stung himself on 25 separate body parts, three times each. According to Smith:
Getting stung on the top of the skull was like having an egg smashed on your head. The pain is there, but then it goes away.
As for the extremely painful areas, you'll want to keep it away from your private parts, upper lip and nostril.

All those came out to a 7.1, 8.7, and 9.0 respectively. And going by what Smith told National Geographic, that 9.0 rating is well deserved:
It's electric and pulsating. Especially the nose. Your body really reacts. You're sneezing and wheezing and snot is just dribbling out. Getting stung in the nose is a whole-body experience.
[PeerJ via National Geographic]