Feds pay researcher to have bee sting his penis

Taxpayers also fund studies of drunk birds songs, femininity of Democrats in Congress

By Stephen Dinan

The Washington Times
Tuesday, May 10, 2016


http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/10/feds-pay-researcher-have-bee-sting-his-penis/

Taxpayers paid for one scientist to have a bee sting his penis, and paid other researchers to figure out that cheerleaders look more attractive in a group than individually, according to a painful new survey of wasteful spending being released Tuesday by Sen. Jeff Flake.

At a time of tight budgets and demands for new spending, including money to fight Zika, to repair water pipes in Flint, Michigan, and to combat the growing opioid epidemic, Mr. Flake said the existence of ridiculous research projects funded by taxpayers shows there’s plenty of room to cut to pay for those needs.

Perhaps the most outrageous item Mr. Flake identified was a study that concluded Democratic women in Congress were less feminine than Republican women. That bit of research, which even went so far as to identify the lawmakers thought to score low on the femininity test, was part of a $50,000 National Science Foundation grant to the University of California-Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, some $1 million in NSF money was spent on the grant that involved studying where it hurts most to be stung by a bee. The penis turned out to be only third-worst out of 25 options, falling behind nose and upper lip.

Of course, the researcher helpfully noted, it was just a single-subject study so it’s not clear how generalizable his results were.

“It’s time that Washington set clear goals for federally-funded research, improved transparency to ensure tax dollars are being prioritized to meet to those goals and reduced wasteful and duplicative spending on lesser priorities,” Mr. Flake said as he released his report, “Twenty Questions: Profiles in Federally Funded Science.”

He announced legislation to require the White House to develop a system to weed out duplicative research and to require agencies that fund research to post a summary, funding details and information about papers written for every unclassified study paid for by taxpayers’ money.

Researchers in one project Mr. Flake highlighted fed alcohol-laced grape juice to finches to see if the birds slurred their songs when inebriated. They did, slightly, and the birds’ songs were “a bit less organized,” the researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University reported.

That money came from the National Institutes of Health — an agency that’s currently begging for more money to combat the Zika virus.

Weird and wasteful studies have long been a target for ridicule in Washington, but the ones Mr. Flake found may set records for questionable value to taxpayers, whose wallets are already pulled in many directions.

The Defense Department, which congressional Republicans insisted needs an injection of tens of billions of dollars this year, spent money to study why coffee spills when someone walks.

“In our busy lives, almost all of us have to walk with a cup of coffee. While often we spill the drink, this familiar phenomenon has never been explored systematically,” the researchers said in explaining their project to the magazine Science. The researchers concluded, as any parent already tells a child, that walking slower and steadier reduces the chances of spilling.

Some of the projects singled out by Mr. Flake, Arizona Republican, have already been highlighted in the Ig Nobel prizes, given by scientists to the more curious projects under the rubric of research.

Michael L. Smith’s bee sting study was a winner in 2015, drawing cringes from Ig Nobel judges who were astounded that he subjected himself to hundreds of stings across 25 different body parts, trying to gauge which hurt the most.

He said scientists had previously tried to rank animals’ and insects’ stings compared to one another, but nobody had calculated where on the body it was worse to get stung. While admitting that “pain is notoriously difficult to quantify,” Mr. Smith tried anyway — forcing honey bees to sting him from the top of his skull to the tip of his middle toe, both of which tied for least painful places.

Mr. Smith admitted his study’s usefulness is limited because of “its low sample size: one person, the author.”

“Although these findings cannot be generalized, they are still interesting,” he insisted in his writeup of his research.

Members of Congress, who approve the funding, are likely to look askance at the study of femininity and masculinity in politicians. Researchers at UCLA found little difference between Democrat and Republican men, but said their students were easily able to pick out female Democrats by how unfeminine they appeared.

The researchers dubbed it the “Michele Bachmann effect,” after the former Minnesota Republican congresswoman. They concluded that Republican men don’t need to appear more masculine because their policy positions already show that, but said for women — and conservative women in particular — femininity was clearly discernible.

Perhaps most stunning, they named names, saying Democratic Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Anna G. Eshoo and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin were rated “less gender-typical,” while Mrs. Bachmann and Reps. Kay Granger and Cathy McMorris Rodgers were rated “highly feminine.”

The researchers said more studying is needed to “understand the roots of the GOP’s more feminine face,” but said it could be as simple as liberal Democrats aiming to diminish disparities between the sexes, while conservative Republicans hold positions “that tend to bolster traditional sex roles.”

Members of Congress, who approve the funding, are likely to look askance at the study of femininity and masculinity in politicians. Researchers at UCLA found little difference between Democrat and Republican men, but said their students were easily able to pick out female Democrats by how unfeminine they appeared.

The researchers dubbed it the “Michele Bachmann effect,” after the former Minnesota Republican congresswoman. They concluded that Republican men don’t need to appear more masculine because their policy positions already show that, but said for women — and conservative women in particular — femininity was clearly discernible.

Perhaps most stunning, they named names, saying Democratic Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Anna G. Eshoo and former Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin were rated “less gender-typical,” while Mrs. Bachmann and Reps. Kay Granger and Cathy McMorris Rodgers were rated “highly feminine.”

The researchers said more studying is needed to “understand the roots of the GOP’s more feminine face,” but said it could be as simple as liberal Democrats aiming to diminish disparities between the sexes, while conservative Republicans hold positions “that tend to bolster traditional sex roles.”

I only read the end lol.

Congress needs to stop wasting money

I would of told them, all that for only $100.00.
But I didn't have proof. And the Feds ...love data.

I wonder if the scientists studying the sting did so with a microscope...awwwwk-WARD....

"Taxpayers paid for one scientist to have a bee sting his penis"

Was he "hard" at work when he was stung?

In defense of the bee...

It must of been provoked
And obviously, it would have to be a drone that was molested.


Who the hell do I call to protest this? LGBT ? PETA ?

OH Jaysuis where do you find this stuff.

OUCH and that poor bee died for this..
Owie...

drones don't have stingers...literally... not in the LGBT way, anyway...

The study of the femininity of the democrats in Congress...

Was there a conclusion, as to why femininity doesn't extend
to the female democrats in Congress?

"Feminity" wood trigger any Democrats in Congress.....They can't use gender specific terminology.....call em "its", more precise.

Bee sting to penis?!?!? What is that, poor man's viagra? Yeowch!

all in the interest of Enlargement?

No...i might be more works then virgo........ and he should try the spider next time no he don't.........

Black Widow spider bite on the reseachers penis !?

OMG!


* I wonder how much that will cost?*

it is from the southern america no it don't......sigh.....

Soon all South American spiders will require a VISA & then have to climb a very big WALL.

Then they can get a gift card, to Target with Transgender bathrooms.