weird science, or, what other Schmidts are up to
My friend ran across the Schmidt Sting Pain Index and said it made her think of me. Do you suppose it was (solely) the name? The bugs? My own tendency to periodically injure myself in painful (and entertaining) ways? His zany descriptions of painful sensations and/or his geeky indexing system? So many possibilities. Anyhow, the brief list of sting descriptions in the linked article is pretty entertaining.
Less amusing is something I read on one of the "See also" pages about Irukandji syndrome, which is caused by the stink sting of a jellyfish and is occasionally fatal:
"In 1964, Dr. Jack Barnes confirmed the cause of the syndrome to be due to the small box-shaped Irukandji jellyfish. In order to prove that the jellyfish was the cause of the syndrome, he captured one and deliberately stung himself, his 9-year-old son, and a local lifeguard, and observed the symptoms."
His 9-year-old son?! How did he get that past the IRB? Oh, right, because IRBs didn't exist until 1974. Despite some frustrating issues with IRBs in the social sciences, having an ethics review board is a good thing, especially in medicine.
Less amusing is something I read on one of the "See also" pages about Irukandji syndrome, which is caused by the stink sting of a jellyfish and is occasionally fatal:
"In 1964, Dr. Jack Barnes confirmed the cause of the syndrome to be due to the small box-shaped Irukandji jellyfish. In order to prove that the jellyfish was the cause of the syndrome, he captured one and deliberately stung himself, his 9-year-old son, and a local lifeguard, and observed the symptoms."
His 9-year-old son?! How did he get that past the IRB? Oh, right, because IRBs didn't exist until 1974. Despite some frustrating issues with IRBs in the social sciences, having an ethics review board is a good thing, especially in medicine.