I Was Stung 1,000 Times for Science

(frenetic woodwind orchestral music) (quick oboe and plucked strings) (whining string music) - [Voiceover] This is Justin Schmidt. - Yeah, my name is Justin Schmidt. - [Voiceover] He's an entomologist. - And I'm an entomologist. I basically study stinging insects. - [Voiceover] He's been stung by a lot of insects. - I've probably been stung at least 1,000 times. - [Voiceover] He reviews insect stings the way a sommelier reviews wine. - Pure, intense, brilliant pain, like walking over flaming charcoal with a three inch nail embedded in your heel. - [Voiceover] Which insect was that? - That's a bullet ant. - [Voiceover] This is his lab in Tucson. This is his harvester ant. This is his vinegaroon. This is his tarantula hawk. These are some more harvester ants in a park, near his lab. He is the creator of the Schmidt Pain Scale. - The Schmidt Pain Scale is basically a scale to rate the painfulness of stinging insects on a scale of one to four. A one would be a sweat bee. Two would be something like a yellow jacket wasp. A three would be something like a harvester ant. And a four would be a tarantula hawk. - [Voiceover] How bad is a four? - Four is absolutely, excruciatingly debilitating, incapacitating, just shuts you down, just absolute, sheer pain, there's just nothing you can really do about that. I don't think I'd wanna be stung by a whole bunch of different fours. I don't think I could endure that for very long. - [Voiceover] Let's be clear, Justin Schmidt doesn't just go out and get stung on purpose. It's just that he's dedicated his life to studying, well. - My passion is insects, and stinging insects in particular. Yeah, I get stung. But that's, that's all just part of the passion you know, that gives me data. You know, a sting helps me in understanding what the insect's doing and I get to be out in the sunshine, and out in the rain, out in the environment studying these magnificent, beautiful insects. It's just, just such a joy. I can't imagine anything I'd rather do more. (pounding, orchestra and piano music) (chimes)

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 4,544,494

Rating: 4.9168916 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, planet earth, insects, entomology, entomologist, stinging insects, sting, insect sting, pain, Schmidt Scale, Justin Schmidt, science, animals, Nature & Animals, Biography & Profile, Tech & Science

Id: CUjRKwr5qps

Length: 2min 31sec (151 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 21 2016